NCIS: Origins

We had these agents we worked with.

They weren't part of Franks' team,

but they were always around.

We called them "the guys."

When you first met them,

it was easy to get them mixed up.

But once you got to know them,

it was pretty clear they each had their own thing.

Jj henneberry prided himself on off-color jokes.

He felt the same about sandwiches

as he did about women:

The more the better.

Carl loughlin was former DEA,

but his niche in the office was fish and wildlife.

He'd school you about sea bass all damn day

if you didn't find an excuse to walk away.

Roger Murphy... well, we stopped counting him because

he did some awful stuff and ended up behind bars.

Artie Finch we counted as half

since he was retired. He was the guy

who trained Gary Callahan, turned him into a k9 agent.

But the toughest one to get a handle on

was Dalton basement.

He moved his office to the basement

'cause there was too much laughing upstairs.

We called him Dalton basement,

but his real last name was something Swedish

that none of us could pronounce.

Dalton was a lot of things.

Number one office shredder, resident sketch artist,

self-proclaimed expert on the 63rd street chacales.

But most of all, he was a pain in our ass.

Nothing was ever good enough for Dalton basement.

And the person that got the brunt

of his griping was Mary Jo.

He was always wanting something.

Demanding a dustbuster,

bugging her about his lost letter opener,

arguing that if Franks had a bendy lamp, so should he.

But unlike the rest of us, Mary Jo actually took the time

to wonder why basement was the way he was.

She thought maybe he moved

to the basement to really focus on the cases.

Dalton.

After all, she did hear him say he wanted

to be sac someday.

And then, one day,

she realized something else about him.

The reason he kept asking about

the dustbuster and the letter opener

and the bendy lamp was because it meant more time

talking to her.

At first, she wasn't sure what to think about that.

But then, she started thinking

that maybe it was worth a try.

Maybe Dalton basement was worth taking a gamble on.

She knew people in the office would never understand,

but she and Dalton agreed no one ever needed to know

what was going on behind closed doors.

Hey.

We were starting to get worried.

You lose track of all space and time

in the shower? Happens to me, like, four times a week.

No, I forgot to put my pager on.

I was helping Diane load up her car.

Yeah? Where's she headed?

Los Angeles. She decided to take that job.

Wait, what? You guys break up again?

No, it's nothing like that, it's fine.

L.A.'s only two hours away.

She's gonna come back down on the weekends.

Company's paying for her to become an accountant

and she couldn't pass it up.

Hey. You get a flat tire or something?

No, Diane's taking that job in L.A., but

they're happily staying together,

and she's coming back on the weekends.

I was asking if he had car trouble, Randy.

I don't need to know his personal business.

He doesn't mind me sharing it. We're all family.

What are we looking at?

Diane is working in L.A. during the week,

here for the weekends.

I was asking about the two victims

in the damn car, dominguez.

Driver is Lance corporal Graham Shaw, 22 years old.

Passenger, also a Lance corporal.

Isaac pierson, 23.

Wallets were in their pockets, so doesn't look like a robbery.

Any witnesses?

Nope.

Sheriff spotted the car.

Headlights were off, no hazards.

He pulled over, discovered the bodies.

- When's tango getting here? - He's out surfing.

But he will be touched to know that you were

thinking of him on his day off.

Both of them were shot through the driver's side?

Window was down.

Yep. Blood's dried.

I put the time of death about 4:00 A.M.

- Explains why no witnesses. - Yeah.

Anyone check the cooler?

Lala was taking pictures.

There's a couple duffles in the back and some stuff.

Nothing but caf-pows.

Could be the were on a road trip, headed back to base.

Bought a bunch of caffeine to stay awake behind the wheel.

That stuff's potent.

Tango told me about the mayhem

you caused the last time you drank some of that.

I asked him not to speak about that.

Well, I'm not gonna tell anybody.

Boss.

Yeah, you find something?

Talk to me. What do you got?

Broken taillight.

Bumper's all busted up.

We saw that already, probie.

You were late on account of your wife

half-moving to L.A., weren't you?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

So you might want to catch up before you go pointing out stuff

we already know.

Theory is he was rear-ended. You see them tire marks?

Our guys get hit, both cars pull over,

other driver shoots them,

peels off without any witnesses.

So we're thinking road rage.

I'm thinking next time you're gonna roll up late,

you best get your ass on the radio and let us know.

You had dominguez worried sick.

Mary Jo.

I found this unmarked tupperware

in the back of the fridge. It's just taking up space.

Do you want me to throw it out?

Dalton,

were you looking in the fridge for a reason to come talk to me?

Hey, is that a tupperware?

Agent basement, remember what we talked about last week?

Refrigerator grievances are my domain.

Come on, let's go discuss the tupperware in the kitchen.

All right, come on, Mary Jo is busy.

You can bitch to me as long as you want.

You're welcome.

Mary Jo. Hey.

Why you have that look on your face?

What look?

That's the look you get when there's something

you don't want to admit, so you just pretend

everything is normal.

I ain't see nothing.

These are your victims.

Their company commander is captain Declan.

He's waiting in the conference room.

What?

Nothing.

You expect to lose men in battle.

In training, even.

This is...

You sure it was road rage?

We're not sure of anything yet.

Do you know where they were headed?

My guess is... Back to base.

They were due to report tomorrow.

We got back from Kuwait two weeks ago. I...

Pierson and Shaw were tight.

Whole time we were out there,

they talked about how they were gonna

go to Jersey when they got back.

What's in Jersey?

Pierson had an aunt there.

Said she had huge property, lots of trails.

You know, they were gonna go four-wheeling.

Talked about it nonstop.

That's the kind of thing that gets you through.

You know?

Y'all had a rough go of it out there?

We are light armored reconnaissance.

This time around, we got assigned to locals

that had property damage from the war.

What kind of damage?

Trigger-happy marines accidentally shooting a camel.

- That kind of thing. - Ladies and gentlemen!

Eyes over here.

Is everyone gathered?

Excuse me a minute.

Mary Jo, where's dominguez?

Cliff, the hell are you doing out here?

- I've got some announcements. - And I got

a double homicide I'm trying to solve in there.

Is dominguez in there? Get her out here.

I heard my name.

Yeah, hold onto your hat. Cliff's got some announcements.

Okay, first of all, regional director Barrett will be

visiting the office later today.

- That prick hole? - Gail.

And in light of the upcoming restructure, he's handed down

some new directives that need to be put into practice,

effective immediately.