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The show opens on a crowded city street. A young woman nervously looks over her shoulder as she moves quickly along the sidewalk. She's panting, almost running, bumping into people, taking backwards glances over her shoulder. She looks back again, then crosses the street in the middle of the block, nearly being hit by moving vehicles. Her eyes are red-rimmed and bloodshot. She scurries up the sidewalk crashing into people, pushing them aside if necessary. She's startled by a particular man that passes her; it's as if she recognizes him. She's talking to herself: "Can't stop moving, can't let them find me." At a stoplight, she simply can't wait any longer for the light to change. Without looking, she darts out into the street. Blam! She's hit by a bus.
Roll the opening credits.
Bing! Tony leaves the NCIS elevator talking on his cell phone, apparently to his latest girlfriend, Ethyl. McGee and Ziva tease Tony about his relationships. He defends himself (and Ethyl). He thinks their relationship is "special" -- Ethyl's even started talking about role-playing, although she's keeping the exact nature a secret until Halloween. "She says it's going to bring our relationship to a whole new level." Gibbs enters -- dead navy lieutenant, it's time to go.
At the scene of the bus accident, the victim is identified as Navy Lieutenant Clea Thorson. Witnesses have said she was acting paranoid and trying to escape from someone. The cause of death is apparent; Ducky's comment is simply "Pedestrian versus bus, how unfortunate." As Jimmy Palmer looks at some scratches on her hands, he notices something very unusual: She has chemical formulas inked all over her forearm. Her other arm, too. Ducky cautiously lifts her shirt -- her abdomen is covered with equations written in several different colors. Palmer says "It looks like my cheat sheet for an eighth-grade math final." Ducky is somber. "Whatever this is, Mr. Palmer, I'm certain that you did not learn it in eighth grade." Phoof!
In the squadroom, the team reviews what they know about Lieutenant Thorson. First in her class at MIT, she led civil engineering projects in Iraq when she was just 21 years old. She had been working for a local biotech firm until she was fired two weeks earlier for reasons not yet known. Her military record was spotless. McGee's review of her electronic records doesn't show any cell phone or credit card trails, but she had made several bank deposits recently. Each one was over $20,000, and the most recent was within the past two weeks. "Find out who was paying her" orders Gibbs as he leaves the area.
In Autopsy, Abby is carefully photographing all of the equations written on the Lieutenant's body. Abby is fascinated: she sees hints of patterns, but (to Abby) it's like an indecipherable puzzle. "It's going to take me a while to process all this," she says, finding it hard to tear her eyes away from the equations.
Ducky has not completed his study, but the early results are disturbing. The victim's eyes are bloodshot, she's badly dehydrated. She was a very sick woman, he says. Palmer reports that her spleen was nearly twice as large as normal; her liver and pancreas are also enlarged. She was on the verge of complete organ failure, apparently from some kind of poison, and apparently over an extended period of time. Yet there's no visible sign of how the poison was administered, and it looks like someone knew exactly how to poison the Lieutenant without getting caught.
In the squadroom, DiNozzo hasn't yet been able to trace the money. McGee has found a recent video message on the victim's computer. They play it on the plasma. A man appears on the screen calling her an ungrateful b***ch, and swearing that if she leaves, he'll make her life hell. McGee traces it back to her boss at the biotech firm.
At the firm, Ziva and Tony interview the boss, Martin Stillwell. He says they had a professional relationship; that he gave her her break in the business and he "nurtured" her. She was the most brilliant engineer he had ever met, but that brilliance came along with some "challenges." She wanted to do her work unassisted, and had become impossible to deal with. Her recent research was a Navy-funded project to become fuel-independent, with a goal of having every naval base completely off the power grid by 2020.
They are joined by April Ferris, another engineer at the firm and a friend of Lt. Thorson. Ferris can't stay to talk (she says she has a meeting); Stillwell decides that the interview is over and leaves with Ferris.
Gibbs interviews the Lieutenant's grieving mother. Everything was fine, she said, until Clea lost her job. At first, she thought it was the medications but, she says, this was different. "Meds?" Gibbs asks. Starting when Clea was a child, she had wild mood swings, manic behavior and insomnia. When she was in her early teens, they found the right doctor and balance of medications. Everything was under control until recently. "Something had my daughter shaken up, Mr. Gibbs, and I don't think it was her illness." She looks at him. "Do you have children?" she asks. Gibbs struggles to find the right word. "Did." The mother is tearful. "Please tell me the pain goes away," she pleads. He has no answer for her.
In Autopsy, Abby is still engrossed in the photographs of the equations. It looks like the Lieutenant wrote the equations herself, ambidextrously writing on both arms. It appears to be a complex chemical formula, written in pieces. It's a code inside a code, written so only the Lieutenant could read it. "It's pure brilliance with a capital B, or PB. It's just one part of a bigger equation. She did this for a reason. She wanted to protect it." In the crease of her elbow, they find latitude and longitude numbers. The location maps to a an address in Washington DC.
Ziva and Tony enter the warehouse at that address. Security cameras are clearly visible. They pass through a curtain to an amazing sight. Papers are everywhere: Taped together into strings, pinned to clotheslines, covering the walls, even covering the windows. Easels are scattered about with large pads of paper. Everything is covered, filled, jammed with equations and diagrams. Whiteboards, papers taped to the support pillars, everywhere. A security system showing video of the lab and its entrances. "You should see this, Tony" Ziva calls. He joins her at a desk. The surface of the desk is covered with a large sheet of paper. On the paper, carefully printed dozens of times in neat rows and columns, is a single message. "They're going to kill me." Phoof!
In the Lieutenant's hideout, Tim is carefully photographing everything. Abby is again entranced by the equations. "I've never seen Abby so -- quiet" Ziva remarks. "She's fine," Tim says, "She's thinking." Abby isn't even listening to them, studying everything she sees. She tells Tim that these equations are an extension of what was written on her body. She finally tears her eyes away so that she can begin checking the hard drive on the computer. Ziva has been reading through a lab journal -- Thorson was convinced that Stillwell was watching her every move. Tony discovers several prescription medicines. Abby finds that the hard drive was erased from a remote location. Someone was stealing her work?
In the squadroom, Tony reports on the scope of the Navy fuel-independence project. It's wide-spread, covering nuclear, wind, geothermal power, hybrid ships, etc. Billions of dollars are at stake, and companies are racing to establish patents on every piece of the work. Thorson's work could have been extremely valuable. McGee reports that Thorson's recent bank deposits were all cash and untraceable. The security videos show only Thorson working, no-one else in the lab during the two weeks since she was fired. She appears obsessed with her work. Her journal has references to a "Mr K", with several dates for meetings in the past two weeks. "Find him!" Gibbs orders Ziva.
In Autopsy that evening, Abby is talking to the Lieutenant's body. She believes Thorson was a kindred spirit. She could tell the first time she saw the writing: everyone else saw chaos, but Abby saw patterns. There was order to the chaos. "So, I just want to tell you," Abby says, "That whatever it is that you're trying to tell me, I'll understand." Ducky approaches. He clearly understands Abby's need to talk to the Lieutenant, but tells Abby to go home and get some sleep. "I can assure you of one thing," he says, "That Lieutenant Thorson will still be here in the morning."
The next morning, Abby's lab is beginning to resemble Thorson's. She begun to hang papers with equations from clotheslines and has standing easels scattered about. She's completely wired and hyper, excited about her breakthroughs (or "little bursts of inspriration"). She apaprently didn't go home overnight, and has had at least eleven Caf-Pows so far in the morning. While keying the coded equations into her computer, Abby realized that she doesn't need to crack the code; she needs to 'crack' the Lieutenant herself. In her journals, Thorson wrote about a college mentor, a confidant. Perhaps that person could tell them something about "Mr K"?
Abby is passionate. "Lieutenant Thorson -- she had a whole life, out there, somewhere. She took a journey, and it's my duty to follow it. That's how we're going to find out who killed her." She looks at Tim. "I can't do it alone, McGee. I need you to come with me."
Ziva is scanning the video surveillance of the Lieutenant's lab, talking to herself. "At 3:00 in the afternoon, she has a sandwich and a soda then returns to work exactly twenty minutes later. At 6 in the evening, she takes a shower. It's the same, every day, like clockwork." Tony groans, and Ziva turns away from the video. "I know that sound," she says, "It is the sound of things not boding well for poor Ethyl." Tony doesn't want to talk about it, and won't tell Ziva how Ethyl wants him to dress for Halloween. "She wants me to dress up as... No. I can't. It's sacrilege." He bites his lip. "I have to end it." Ziva thinks that it's been too short of a relationship so far even for Tony, but if he's going to end it then he should do so right away. "It's not fair..." Ziva begins, but trails off when she sees people entering the squadroom.
It's April Ferris, who had asked to talk with Tony. She had wanted to know Thorson better, but never did and cannot explain how Thorson's mind worked. They were the only two female engineers at the company, so shared a bond. She's brought some of Thorson's personal effects, and hopes they can find answers that she never could. They find a calendar. The final meeting with "Mr K" is scheduled for later that afternoon at a cafe across town.
Out on the street, Abby is trying to retrace the bus routes that Clea took every day. McGee doesn't see the value in Abby's effort. She insists that it's important and boards a city bus without him, leaving him bewildered on the sidewalk. Phoof!
In the squadroom, McGee is trying to locate Abby by tracing her cell phone. She's apparently turned it off. Cut to a college campus where Abby has found Thorson's mentor, Professor Daniel Redner. Redner was concerned that something may have happened when Thorson didn't arrive as planned on the day of her death, and is still shocked at her death. Abby shows him some of Thorson's equations, but he doesn't recognize much of the work, either. While Thorson had mentioned "Mr K", she never mentioned his full name. Clea had left a book with Thorson -- they would read it together, and it seemed to calm her. It's a copy of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", a collection of his poetry. The professor encourages Abby to take the book, saying that it will be in good hands.
In the squadroom, Ziva reports that Mr K never appeared at the cafe. The manager reports that Thorson was a frequent patron of the cafe, and gives them video recordings. We see Thorson sitting alone in a booth, animated, talking and gesturing, apparently to a person that only she can see. She would talk like that for an hour before leaving. The manager finally kicked her out when other customers complained that she was getting too loud. "Who's going to tell Abby?" the team wonders.
Abby rushes into the squadroom, excited about her day. She starts babbling to Gibbs about meeting the professor. "Stop", says Gibbs. She ignores him and insists that Thorson felt threatened by Mr K, and that's it's vital that they find him. "STOP!" says Gibbs. Abby is surprised. "You just raised your voice to me. You -never- raise your voice to me." Gibbs shows the video of Thorson talking to no-one. "It's her delusion, Abs." Abby is crushed. "I was wrong," she says, "About you. You don't understand. None of you understand!" and rushes away.
Abby locks herself in her lab, convinced that she can find the answers all by herself, just like Thorson. Gibbs and Ducky are discussing the situation. Ducky has also just found a bit of tissue deeply embedded underneath Thorson's fingernail, and has just received an identification. He gives the sheet of paper to Gibbs.
At the biotech firm's headquarters, Gibbs and DiNozzo see Stillwell's car starting to move. They approach, guns drawn, and order him out of the car. Stillwell opens the door, gasps "Help me", and falls to the ground. Dead. Phoof!
In the squadroom, Stillwell's autopsy points to poison. McGee makes a case that perhaps they're reading this all wrong -- that Thorson's formula could be the key to billions of dollars of profits. In that case, Abby is the only one that can make a breakthrough, but someone's got to break through to Abby first. Gibbs thinks he knows of someone that can.
Cut to Thorson's lab. Her mother is looking at the papers, watched by Abby and Gibbs. She reminisces, and recognizes that Abby has the same drive and intensity as Clea. "You're connected to my daughter because of science." "Yes." "And you want to help her?" Abby agrees, "That's all I want to do." "Then do what she would have done, and put emotion aside. Please, you have to let her go."
In Forensics, Gibbs enters Abby's lab. The papers everywhere are gone, and her music is playing again. She's back to her old self and has been making significant progress. She's realized that one of the most important equations was a distinctive configuration of the E.Coli bacteria. A second equation has to do with photosynthesis. But she still can't quite figure out how things tie together.
McGee shows Gibbs a photograph of one of the pieces that isn't fitting it. Gibbs points at a doodle on the side and says, "It looks like a plant!" Abby's eyes light up. "It's not a plant," she says, "It's a leaf!" She picks up the copy of Leaves of Grass, riffles through the pages, and shakes the book. A computer SIM memory chip falls out.
McGee rushes the chip to a computer and they begin to review the contents. Abby throws up her hands. "Whoa. Guys, Clea Thorson was a genius. She discovered a way to make fuel out of bacteria!" In Abby's words, Thorson has figured out how to power the planet from stuff that we try to get rid of. Gibbs notices a logo in the corner for a company named Avaxis. They check Avaxis' employee list. The Systems Director at Avaxis is named Rupert Kritzer. They've found Mr K!
In Interrogation, Gibbs is interviewing Kritzer. He admits that he had hired Thorson and was paying her in cash under the table. He tells Gibbs about how every biotech firm is hunting for talent, and when Stillwell fired Thorson he pounced. He wanted it kept quiet because Stillwell had stolen other ideas from him, and he didn't want this work getting back to Stillwell. Kritzer denies killing anyone, but Gibbs doesn't believe him. "Clea's formula just netted me 2 billion dollars, Mr. Gibbs, and I was about to hire her for a second project. Why would I want her dead?"
In Autopsy, Ducky tells Gibbs that Stillwell's throat was burned from swallowing a significant amount of something -- and that the odor is still present. Gibbs thinks it smells like gasoline, but Ducky tells him it was a highly refined version of ethanol mixed with traces of formaldehyde. With Abby's help, Palmer has found a three-year-old patent application for a particular grain-based fuel. The patent was never awarded because the fuel produced formaldehyde as a byproduct. The patent application was from Stillwell's company.
Ducky has other findings as well. Thorson's poison was absorbed through her skin over a period of perhaps two weeks. It may have been in a lotion or some kind of liquid. Gibbs realizes that it had to have been done by someone that knew Thorson's ritual schedule.
McGee is sent to Thorson's lab to investigate. Under a stairwell, he finds a canister plumbed directly into the water supply.
Cut to the biotech firm, where we see April Ferris in a meeting with two naval officers. Gibbs and team interrupt, and the officers leave. Gibbs accuses Ferris of stealing Thorson's work, and Ziva reads an excerpt from Thorson's journal where Thorson hopes that Ferris will be her friend. Thorson wrote that she trusted Ferris. "It's a terrible thing, betraying someone's trust like that" Tony says. Ferris reacts, and releases some of her frustrations about everyone in the firm fawning over Thorson. She's the killer.
In the squadroom, the elevator opens. With a camera aimed low, we see someone wearing white bell-bottom pants stride out. The camera pans up to show a white suit jacket, a white vest, and a black shirt open to the middle of the chest. A gold chain is around his neck. It's Tony, dressed as John Travolta from "Saturday Night Fever." "It's Tony as Tony! I am completely impressed!" McGee says. Ziva looks at him. "Are you supposed to be 'Fat Elvis'?" she asks. Tony tries to make light of it but finally winces. "I know. Looks ridiculous, and feels even worse. It's like I'm betraying a film god." He finally tries to console himself and talk himself back into being confident and self-assured, then leaves the squadroom for his date with 'Special Ethyl'.
In Forensics, Abby is hanging her Halloween decorations (bats and spiders), much more her style Gibbs walks in. "It looks good," he says, "I like it." Abby tries to apologize for the way she had behaved. Gibbs kisses her cheek, tells her it's OK, and puts his arm around her as they leave the lab for the night. A moment later, she rushes back into the lab and picks up the copy of Leaves of Grass. She pauses a moment, and smiles. Phoof!
Roll the closing credits.
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