- During a court-martial of an Army first lieutenant, a Marine photojournalist disappears before he can testify; while Gibbs and company lend a hand, they find the body of the Marine, solve his murder and another one, and arrest two bad guys.
- In Afghanistan a Marine Corps photojournalist, SSgt. "Shooter" Roe, while accompanying a joint Army-Marine task force, took a photograph of an Army first lieutenant in a compromised position; an unknown person leaked the image to the press; the lieutenant now faces a court-martial for the execution-style killing (allegedly for revenge) of the Afghan villager in the picture; the photographer, due to testify as the key witness for the prosecution, disappears; Gibbs and company lend a hand. Roe's current assignment concerns homeless military veterans in the DC area. Tony and Ellie find evidence inside Roe's pad; later they and McGee find his body elsewhere amid unpleasant circumstances; Duckman and Abby present important clues and an implication to Vance and Gibbs. McGoo goes undercover. The gang find a lucrative moonlight enterprise, they solve two murders, and the Army court-martial resumes.—DocRushing
- A Marine photographer follows a joint Army-Marine task force in Afghanistan and snaps pictures as one of the soldiers appears to kill an unarmed civilian.
Back in DC months later, the picture was leaked by someone and led to the court martial of the man shooting in the picture, Army First Lieutenant Michael Waters. Marine Staff Sgt. Martin "Shooter" Roe took it. Roe is supposed to testify that it was a revenge killing, but no one has seen him in four days. Vance warns Gibbs to tread lightly with the Army.
Downstairs, McGee arrives late with stubble. He has an itch and a doctor told him not to shave for a week. Gibbs joins them with the news about Roe, along with Commander Chad Hendricks, from the public affairs office.
Roe is working on a piece on homeless military veterans in the DC area.
Gibbs sits down with Waters and Major Huggins, his JAG lawyer. Waters is angry and defiant, calling Roe a lying bastard. Waters accuses Gibbs of being "one dumb jarhead covering for another."
In Roe's apartment, Tony and Ellie look through his things, finding a threatening note. Ellie finds cooking tools for heroin.
Back in the office, they place the most recent photos from their GPS tags and find most were taken right near the Navy yard.
Down in the lab, Abby reports she found Roe's DNA on the needle. Hendricks doesn't believe it.
Tony, McGee and Ellie wander among homeless people on the street where Roe took his pictures. They head inside a building where another was taken and find a homeless encampment. They find Roe dead inside with a needle in his arm.
Later, on the scene, Duckie says Roe died four or five days ago. He was a new drug user without needle tracks.
Back in the office, Vance reports that with Roe dead, Waters court martial has been dismissed.
Vance and Gibbs join Abby and Duckie in the morgue. Roe died of an OD, but he was chloroformed before he was injected. He was murdered.
Back upstairs, they go over Roe's photos and find a man with a Navy tattoo. Abby recognizes the man as Blue, with his dog Dave. She sees them every morning on the way to work and brings Blue food for Dave. Abby hasn't seen him for a few days.
Tony and Ellie go back to canvas the homeless with photos of Roe and Blue, but no one will talk to them. Tony suggests they go undercover, but everyone knows their faces. Tony has another idea of someone who's been looking scruffy.
Waters' lawyer Huggins visits Vance to object to him speaking to Gibbs again. Huggins insists Waters is a hero with a purple heart who was in that village to flush out a sniper who killed one of his unit the day before. Vance insists Huggins bring him in.
Down in the lab, Abby gets a hit on the facial recognition of Blue, a vet named Everett.
Christopher from tech services finishes prepping McGee to go undercover as a homeless person, complete with cat urine spray.
Back in the office, Ellie wonders if Waters could have slipped off base to kill Roe only two miles away.
McGee wanders through the homeless encampment, not having found anyone who's seen Blue. Tony taunts him via earpiece from inside the warm car. McGee is ready to give up when a man approaches him and tells him a "nosy photographer" took Blue to get help, but the rumor is that Blue died.
The next day in the office, Ellie confirms with a hospital that Blue died of a heart attack one day before Roe.
Abby comes in and takes news of Blue's passing hard and worries about the dog.
At a free clinic, Gibbs and Ellie talk to the clinic director Lorin Davis, who tells them about Roe bringing Blue in having chest pains.
Out on the streets, Abby finds Dave the dog with a young homeless woman. She defiantly explains Blue asked her to watch the dog and Abby breaks the news to her about his death. Abby tries to talk to the woman, but she runs off.
Duckie comes by Gibbs' house at night. Gibbs asks him to get Blue's body and perform an autopsy.
In the lab, Abby has pulled the homeless girl's prints off something she touched and found she's a runaway from Nebraska named Emma Carter. She's been missing six years and the FBI and her parents are looking for her.
In the morgue, Duckie reports to Vance and Gibbs that Blue did die of a heart attack, but both of his kidneys were stolen. They would have had to be harvested quickly after he died.
The doctor who signed Blue's death certificate is Dr. Graham Novak, who has a prominent practice in Reston but volunteers at the clinic.
Back out on the streets, Abby finds Dave and Emma. She plays Emma a video from her mother, apologizing for any mistakes they made and begging her to come home. Abby gives Emma a prepaid phone card, but Emma says she has nothing to say to them.
Gibbs and Tony talk to Dr. Novak in interrogation. He admits he stole Blue's kidney and says he only meant to do it once, after a homeless man died and he gave his kidney to his mentor, who was dying. He says he was blackmailed into doing it again by Lorin Davis, the clinic director. He insists he was just trying to get organs to people who needed them.
Roe came in to pay his respects to Blue's body and noticed he was still on a ventilator. Lorin said he'd deal with Roe.
The team goes to the clinic and arrests Lorin.
Back at the homeless encampment, Emma finds Abby and asks her to watch Dave. Her parents bought her a bus ticket to Nebraska. She explains she was on the streets so long she started to believe she got what she deserved for running away. But Abby insists she's better than that, which is what Emma's mom said, too.
Late at night in NCIS, Gibbs and Vance look at Roe's pictures of homeless vets. Vance just heard the court martial of Waters is back on. And Duckie informs them that Blue and Roe are going to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full honors.
"Let's go home," Gibbs says.
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