In L.A. NCIS agents Sam and Kensie follow a man carrying a briefcase full of cash walking down the street. The man is shot at and Kensie is almost hit by a car. The man drops the case and escapes. Tony answers Ziva's phone and hears a man with a deep voice. Ziva takes the phone and talks to the man in Hebrew. Gibbs tells the team that they have to investigate the death of a Marine. They go to a construction site and find a dead man suspended in the air by ropes tied to all of his limbs. They see that the Marine is named Nick Chandler. They see that Chandler arrived from Los Angeles that morning. They also see that Chandler's left shoe is missing. Ducky arrives and sees the Chandler was subjected to electrocution torture before he died.
At headquarters, Ziva finds that Chandler rented a car, but didn't pick it up. They figure that someone picked up Chandler at the airport. McGee sees that another NCIS team put out a BOLO for Chandler.
Vance shows Gibbs the tape of when Chandler was shot at in L.A. He tells Gibbs that Chandler was on the way to make a cash drop to a group of weapons dealers. He says that Chandler panicked and went to D.C. to see his mother. Gibbs tells Vance that the government organization in charge of Chandler's case is the Office of Special Projects led by Lara Macy. Gibbs says that Macy might have a problem working with him. Gibbs tells McGee to fly with him to L.A. Tony asks McGee what he is going to talk to Gibbs about during the 5 hour plane ride. He suggests that he shouldn't mention divorce or marriage. Gibbs goes to the Abby's lab. She tells Gibbs that Macy wants her to send all of her findings about Chandler. Abby sees that Gibbs knows Macy. Abby tells Gibbs that she is worried because the last time the team went to L.A., they lost a member.
Tony calls Ziva and she tells him that she is following a lead and can't talk. Meanwhile, Ziva has lunch with a man named Michael (the same man we saw was in the Morroco bar when it exploded - 6.0 Last Man Standing). He grabs Ziva's hand and tells her that her father sends her his love.
McGee and Gibbs arrive at a warehouse holding the offices of the OSP. Agent Kensie shows them into the office. Gibbs says that he slept during the entire flight. Gibbs tells Kensie that he has been at the office before. Gibbs enters the office and sees that Macy is holding a conference with Vance on a big screen. Macy asks Gibbs if he still drinks coffee. She gives Gibbs the file on Chandler. Gibbs tells Macy that he thinks her team was spotted by the men that Chandler was supposed to meet. Macy says that Chandler was supposed to meet with a suspected arms dealer named Liam. Macy tells Gibbs to let her do the job. Nate, the OSP's operational psychologist tells Macy that Gibbs doesn't trust her. Macy tells Nate to find Callen.
Gibbs calls Tony and asks if he spotted anyone picking up Chandler at the airport. Tony says that Chandler got lost in the crowd. Gibbs tells McGee to stay at OSP HQ while he visits a friend. Later, Gibbs meets with Agent Callen. Callen asks him if he is done building his boat. He asks Gibbs if he saw Macy and he says that he did. Callen sees a Russian girl approach and pretends that he is a Russian mobster. He tells Gibbs that he is putting up the act because she is his neighbor and he wants her to be scared of him so she doesn't look into his life.

Macy calls Callen and tells him that they have him on camera and microphone. Callen enters a cafe and meets with a man named Talia. Callen pretends that he is a weapons dealer. Talia says that he has a client that wants to purchase big toys. Callen asks Talia if he is wired. Talia asks the same question. Callen asks him when he wants to meet. Talia says the next day, but Callen says that he can't do it. Talia gets a message from a man sitting across the cafe that says that Callen is a cop. Talia tells Callen to buzz off. At the OSP headquarters, Mike the technician tells the team that they intercepted the call that Talia made in the cafe. They listen to the call and hear that he is speaking to a man named Liam. They figure that Talia is connected to Chandler's case.
Macy tells Sam to give Gibbs and McGee a full brief on the case. Callen asks Macy what happened between her and Gibbs. She says that she doesn't want to talk about it. Callen says that he will just ask Gibbs about them.
Tony goes to Ducky's lab. He sees that Tony wants to talk about personal things. Tony says that he is concerned about Ziva and asks him if he knows about her work in Israel. Ducky says that Ziva was on a mission and almost died. He says that he saw a news story of a bombing with Ziva. Ducky says that Abby found skin cells on the rope. He says that Chandler's murderer probably has a bad rope burn. Tony looks at the tape and sees the man that Ziva has a picture of. Tony has Abby run facial recognition software on the man and learns that the man is named Michael.
Sam, Gibbs, and McGee look over the tape of the shooting. They pull up an ATM video and find the image of the man that shot at Chandler in L.A. Sam sends the photo of the man to Abby. Ziva does research and learns about a case with a similar method of murder as Chandler. They go to a construction site and examine a truck. Two men, the Kass brothers, ask them what they want. Ziva sees Chandler's missing shoe and the brothers realize that they have been caught. One of the brothers run up a scaffolding, slips and grabs on a pole. Tony sees that the man has a rope burn. The man tells Tony that he killed Chandler as a favor for a man named Liam.
The OSP sees that Talia is on the phone. He asks the man how he knew Callen was a cop. The man asks Talia how he got his number. Talia says that he got it from the waitress after he gave it to her. Talia asks Matty, the man on the phone, if he wants to run guns for him. He tells him to meet him downtown. The OSP stakes out a parking garage and see Talia and Matty. They see an SUV pull up that they recognize as belonging to Liam. They see that Liam has a gun. The team surround the men and kill the dealers in the SUV. Gibbs learns that Matty is actually an undercover OSP agent. They arrest Talia. They find that the men are staying at a hotel. They go to the building and see that the room is full of weapons and cash. They return to the base and learn that Liam was a weapons dealer. Nate says that Liam built up his reputation without anyone knowing his true identity (the full fake life and history that can stand up to scrutiny is a "legend", a name coined in Germany during the cold war). They instruct Callen to pose as Liam.
Abby tells Tony that Michael Rivkin is connected with the head of the Mossad, Ziva's dad. Tony tells Abby to never tell Ziva what they now know. Later, Tony meets up with Ziva and learns that Michael has left Washington, D.C. It is a very uncomfortable elevator ride for Ziva, during which she lies by insinuating that Micheal is not (and has not been) in DC.
Meanwhile, Callen gets a knock on his door when he is posing as Liam. Michael enters the room, thinks that Callen is Liam and tells him that he is glad to finally be able to meet him. To Be Continued is displayed.