NCIS: Origins

Federal agents! Freeze! Jamison "Bugs" Boyd.

They're calling him "Sandman."

He kills Melanie Hewitt,

then he goes and shoots Dustin Cruz.

Why?!

I loved her so much but she didn't want me no more.

She wanted Cruz.

: I loved her so much.

I'm interviewing him for my new program.

He is my new best friend.

The worst monsters let you breathe,

they let you think it's over.

And then, enter Sandman.

Vera Strickland lived a big life in a small apartment.

Her place was nothing special,

but it did have two bathrooms.

One, she used as a bathroom.

The other, she used as an office.

She would sit in there and think about these killers.

She would analyze every word they said

to her in their interviews,

every tilt of a head,

every twitch of an eye, every curl of a lip.

She would crawl inside their heads,

and she would stay there till she could define them.

Sometimes, it made her sick,

being inside those heads for so long.

But the labels she put on these killers now

would help us catch the next one easier.

That's what she told herself.

But there was one she couldn't define.

She'd talked to him many times.

("Mr. Sandman" by The Chordettes playing)

They'd gotten close.

But when it came to his crimes,

the sniper known as Sandman

refused to let her in his head.

Vera knew the facts.

He shot his girlfriend Melanie

from his hide 1,300 yards away.

He set her house on fire.

Then he shot her lover on the beach

from his hide in a hotel room.

Those were the facts.

But they didn't match up with the man Vera had gotten to know.

Whenever she asked him about the crimes, he shut down.

Eventually, she couldn't ask anymore

because the funding dried up.

So, there she was with no way to label him,

and no way to stop caring.

Jamison "Bugs" Boyd

thought a lot about Vera caring.

He thought about how he'd told her things

he'd never said to another living soul.

He felt her caring,

and that felt good.

But the interviews were over now.

Her questions sat in his head,

the ones he never answered.

He wanted her to come back.

He wanted her back so much,

he thought he might die.

Hello?

You are about to receive a collect call from...

Jamison Boyd.

...an inmate housed at Federal Correctional Facility,

San Diego. Press "one" to accept the charge.

This call is subject

to monitoring and recording.

Jamison?

Yeah.

This is crazy, I was just thinking about you.

You were?

Yeah. I mean, uh, yeah.

I don't want you to not come back.

Hey, you remember what I told you?

It's got nothing to do with you.

It's-it's about the funding.

What if I answer all of your questions this time?

You think your boss would let you come back?

I'll do anything you want, just...

please just come back.

Would you come back?

So I take her out, you know?

I take her out to dinner at a really nice restaurant.

We're eating pasta, she's laughing at my jokes.

You know how I do, right, Georgie?

Yeah, he's got a great joke about pasta.

Oh, I didn't even tell her about that one.

Look, I'll tell y'all after,

but anyways,

I'm driving her home,

I kiss her good night.

It gets a little hot and heavy on the front porch.

I felt like I was 16 again.

Yeah. Best first date I've ever had.

You know, never thought I'd be able to feel like this again.

Never in a million years, you know?

I love to hear you happy, brother.

You really deserve it, man.

Yeah, I don't know about all that,

but... look, I'll take it.

Leroy.

You had a thought about Joe's story?

No, it's great.

That's great, man.

Joe's not sure he deserves it.

I was just kidding.

Do you think Joe deserves it, Leroy?

What, to be happy?

Yeah. You do?

Yeah.

Protect and serve.

Doesn't matter if we're on the battlefield

or at home, walking down the street.

Somehow, we all became a pair of words, didn't we?

Protect and serve.

And we all failed.

One way or another,

we believe that we let down the people

that we were supposed to protect.

And we think maybe we don't deserve

to be happy because of that.

But our trauma's not our fault.

Our recovery, that's our responsibility.

It's not easy.

But victory belongs to the most persevering.

And we can all agree that

Joe still deserves

to have a pretty damn good date.

Right, Leroy?

Yeah.

What about you?

Do you deserve to be happy?

I don't know.

Let me ask everyone else and see what they think.

However Leroy feels

that he's failed in the past,

does he deserve to be happy now?

Joe?

Yes.

George? Yeah, he does.

Charles? Yeah.

Daniel? Avery?

Yes. Yes.

It's a yes from me, too.

You deserve it, man.

You hear that, Leroy?

It's unanimous.

You deserve to be happy, man.

What do you think about that?

Thank you.

Okay.

Oh.

I thought I heard some goings-on in here.

Guess who called me last night?

One of the guys you're running with?

The Mensa plumber? : No.

Bugs.

Geez. What the hell was JJ

doing with this clipboard? It smells like ass.

Bugs as in "Sandman" Bugs?

Yeah.

He called me practically begging for me to go see him.

I think... he misses me?

He said he is ready to answer

every burning question that I have.

How are there no pens in this place

that work? Here you go.

Kowalski,

you are everything a human being should be.

Oh, yeah.

So, Bugs the Sandman wants to talk, huh?

Mm-hmm.

You'll finally be able to finish your profile on him.

That's great. What's great?

Bugs, finally gonna let me into his head.

Oh, so you need that camcorder again?

I thought you were done with all that.

No. I was. I am.

The funding is out for the year,

so I gotta get Wheeler to sign off on it

before I can go.

You might have to wait a while.

I heard Gail tell Nadia yesterday

that Mary Jo said Wheeler's coming in late.

Something about his son, and he's not to be paged.

Damn it. What did I tell you

about eating enormous sandwiches for breakfast?

But your bread is so good, man.

You know what's appropriate?

A slice of buttered toast.

You want me to make you a sandwich?

Uh, yeah, sure.