'NCIS' Season 10, Episode 14: 'Canary' Recap

A man approaches a building, but finds the front entrance blocked my McGee, who is undercover. He tells him to use the back entrance instead. McGee radios Gibbs, telling him the target is heading towards him.

Behind the building, Gibbs, dressed as a homeless man, throws a bag of garbage at the target. Ziva, undercover as well, heads down some stairs towards the target, however, the target suspects something is up and pulls a gun on Ziva, taking her hostage.

The target, Ajay Khan, is jumped by Tony, hiding in a dumpster, and knocked out by Ziva. McGee appears, asking if the laptop was alright. Tony confirms it is. Ajay Khan was apparently on the Most Wanted list.

At NCIS, Tony celebrates the capture; the #2 cyber terrorist in the world responsible for the Homeland hack and the FBI security breach, but Ziva points out it would be better to get #1. Tony hopes that Khan will lead him to the #1.

Tony tries to check his email, but notices the networks are down. Kevin, the IT guy, explains there are new security features in place since the attack on MTAC, and they have ‘momentarily’ slowed the system for as long as it takes.

Kevin leaves a flier to Ziva to give to McGee; a flier for an Improvisational Comedy show. He reveals he’s been taking classes, but is usually typecast to the bumbling terrorist.

In interrogation, Khan calls his lawyer, but he won’t be able to come ‘til the next day. Gibbs reveals he didn’t care, and that Khan’s hack took down the system and gave away Special Agent James Hunt’s position, leading to his death. He forces Khan to look at the autopsy photos, having been tortured to death.

Gibbs threatens to send Khan to Gitmo, unless he gives him his employers ‘UP address’. Khan reveals his boss only goes by the letters “M.C.”, but he can lead them to him. But there’s a problem, he reveals. The problem is that Gibbs doesn’t even know what an ‘IP address’ is.

Khan isn’t scared, saying no one’s been sent to Gitmo in over 5 years. The worst the can get him for is second-degree manslaughter.

Outside the interrogation room, Tony apologizes to Gibbs, saying he was sure he wrote ‘IP address’ in the notes. Gibbs knows, but wanted Khan to think they’re dumb, so he can ‘prove him right’ later.

In the lab, Abby watches closely as McGee carefully dismantles Khan’s laptop. McGee expresses his intimidation of Khan’s credentials; an MIT grad who managed to hack the college’s databases his freshman year, so he’s bound to have multiple fail-safes on his laptop. Abby assures him that they’ve covered all their bases.

They reroute the power so the laptop won’t even ‘know’ it’s on. And screen flickers to life, and the contents of the hard drive begin to display, however the laptop starts to smoke, and with a crackle, the contents are destroyed permanently.

In Duckie’s office, he discusses Khan’s criminal and psychological profile. He says Khan will only cooperate if it’s in his own best interest, mostly money. He points out he’s a narcissist, scared of death. And there is a terrorist cell being held in Guantanamo Bay that would love to kill him.

In MTAC, Gibbs is in a conference call with Air Force Brigadier General Jack Mandrake, hoping to arrange an intimidation trip for Khan. NCIS Deputy Director Jerome Craig interrupts, expressing his concerns with going off the radar with Gibbs’ plans, scared to take the risk.

In Abby’s lab, she tells Gibbs that the laptop meltdown wasn’t a complete loss, as she and McGee filmed the screen, and she was able to find an address out of the content. It points to an old warehouse in Anacostia. And if Khan was there, it might lead them to M.C.

Ziva and Tony go to the warehouse and find it abandoned, except for a dead body. It is covered in sores, which makes Tony call for the Hazmat team.

In interrogation, Gibbs shows Khan photos of the man they found in the warehouse. He was the caretaker that doubled as a bomb maker, which prompts Gibbs to ask if that was their next plan. He calls Khan dumb and unoriginal, since using the Ebola Virus has been done before. Khan defends himself, saying it was all M.C.’s idea, and lets it slip that something big will happen in a few days. McGee enters the room carrying Khan’s new orange prison jumpsuit.

At the Andrews Air Force Base, Khan is strapped into a carrier plane. Tony and Ziva join him on the plane, and Gibbs pops in. Khan expresses his doubt on them actually going to Guantanamo Bay. Gibbs gives him one last chance to talk, but he refuses. Gibbs leaves the plane, and they get ready for takeoff.

In the morgue, Gibbs finds Duckie in a hazmat suit, saying they sent samples to the CDC, but Ebola could only be spread via contact with bodily fluid, so it was safe. Duckie points out a cut he found on the victim’s finger, likely from the aluminum seal on an Ebola container, which is likely how the virus entered his body. But only one of the victim’s kidneys liquefied, which leads Duckie to believe it’s a weakened strain of the virus.

Director Craig comes to Gibbs to discuss his plan. He expresses his concerns about what happens if Khan doesn’t crack while they’re still on the plane. He points out Gitmo isn’t a hotel people can just check into. Gibbs tells him that it will be up to him if it comes to that.

On the plane, Tony holds the barf bag for the airsick Khan. He tries to get him to talk, but he still refuses. Ziva reveals that his former employers, the terrorists that he double-crossed, were waiting for him at Gitmo. He still doesn’t talk.

In Abby’s lab, Director Craig pays her a visit. Abby reveals the Ebola used was actually a faulty Ebola vaccine developed by the CDC. Once their systems were hacked, the CDC shipped the Ebola virus in place of Flu vaccines to the bomb maker in the warehouse. Ebola bomb. Director Craig realizes that thousands of lives could be in danger.

Craig excuses himself from the lab and calls Tony on the plane. There is a change of plans. One of the crew informs them to strap in, they are beginning their decent, but Khan still doesn’t buy it. Tony takes out a syringe, and injects Khan with a tranquilizer, knocking him out.

Back as NCIS, Kevin the IT guy waits nervously for Gibbs, saying Gibbs asked him to come. Abby appears and assures Kevin that Gibbs isn’t going to fire him. When Gibbs shows up, Abby reveals that she managed to track the missing Ebola samples through GPS.

Gibbs tells Kevin that the director is waiting for him downstairs. He begins to worry about his job security once again.

Khan wakes up, realizing that the NCIS team was not kidding, as he finds himself locked in a cell. An angry man, banging against his own cell, starts shouting in Arabic, which Ziva is kind enough to translate. To put it simply, they know he’s there, and they want him dead.

They leave Khan, closing the cell behind them. He is serenaded with the death threats of the other inmates.

In town, the Metro PD help set up a faux-DUI checkpoint in attempts to stop the delivery van. Gibbs sees the van approach, right on schedule.

In his cell, Tony and Ziva bring Khan some food, noting that he missed breakfast. He throws the food across the room in protest. He tells them that there will always be someone out there hurting people, so it’s not fair to target him. He refuses to talk more.

A sergeant informs Tony and Ziva that the base commander needs to see one of them. He says the commander knows what they are doing, and that it’s game over. But since Khan is there illegally, Tony is forced to stay and babysit him as Ziva goes to talk to the commander. Khan finds this amusing, as the sergeant leaves Tony a walkie-talkie and shuts him in the cell with Khan.

At the DUI checkpoint, Gibbs and McGee draw their weapons and restrain the delivery driver who claims ignorance about the samples.

In his cell, Khan tortures Tony with endless rambling about music. Tony interrupts, trying to figure out why Khan does what he does. “A steady paycheck. Power. The feeling that you’ve conquered something. Like Caesar.” Tony tells him he’s more like Tony Curtis in “Spartacus”, who had no real power.

The cell door opens when an alarm goes off. An announcement is made that there’s been a security breach, but Khan doesn’t buy it… Until he hears gunfire. Tony reveals he had to check his weapon in, as it was protocol, so he radios the sergeant, but gets no response.

Ziva finally radios back, telling him that the entire security mainframe was down. They think it was hacked. Khan begins to panic, fearing that M.C. knew he was there and that he was going to rat him out.

Tony tells Ziva that their cell door had opened on its own, but she reveals that theirs is not the only one, and to be careful. Tony tells Khan to stay in the cell, and that he was going to find someone. The sergeant finally arrives, asking Tony how he got out of the cell, when he gets attacked from behind by an escaped prisoner. Tony tries to aid him, but in the struggle, a gun goes off.

Back at the DUI checkpoint, the delivery truck is quarantined as Gibbs and McGee, decked out in Hazmat suits, find the Ebola samples. McGee uses a thermal imager to see the bomb inside the package.

In Gitmo, Tony is rolling on the floor in pain; his leg had been shot. The prisoner grabs the gun and shoots the sergeant. Then he turns his sights on Tony. When he goes to pull the trigger, he is shot in the back by Ziva. They hear a sound, and comment that all the cell doors just opened. She grabs Tony and takes him into Khan’s cell for cover. They try and barricade the door, revealing she only has 8 bullets left, which isn’t enough for the angry mob. Tony says they might be safe, but then someone starts pounding on their door.

At the quarantined truck, Gibbs and McGee have everyone evacuate immediately, as their attempt to disarm the bomb triggered a fail-safe, set to explode. They manage to contain the explosion inside the quarantine. All is clear.

As they take a breath of relief, Gibbs gets a call from Director Craig.

Back in Gitmo, Tony tourniquets his leg using his belt, as Ziva translates what the terrorists are shouting outside their door. They only want Khan, and will let Ziva and Tony live. Ziva convinces Tony to send out Khan. Khan protests, but Ziva points out that he’s been of no use to them, so why save him?

As they get ready to toss him out, he says he’ll tell them whatever they want. Ziva has him prove it, so they call McGee. He’s standing by in MTAC. Tony has him tell McGee how he contacts M.C.

Khan tells him he contacts him by pinging his IP and waiting for him to contact him. McGee knows he’s lying, because that would allow M.C. to see it was NCIS trying to contact him. McGee knows that Khan tracked M.C., and that he knows exactly where he is.

He finally gives McGee the IP he needed, and he is now able to track M.C. He calls Gibbs and signals the all-clear. All the lights turn back on, the door opens revealing the “dead” prisoner and sergeant, and Gibbs steps forth.

Kevin the IT guy comes forward, revealing himself to have been the terrorist shouting the whole time, proud of his improv skills.

Director Craig is there as well, and asks about Khan’s lawyer and why he never showed up. Gibbs mentioned that they told him his client had be transferred, so the lawyer was sent on a wild goose chance across the country.

They step outside into the blowing snow, leaving the detention facility at Andrews Air Force Base, having never gone to Cuba at all.