ncis
escaped (2/24)

Continuing this evening is the fourth season of the hit drama series following a team of special agents who investigate Navy and Marine Corps-related crimes. In tonight’s instalment, Agent Fornell of the FBI reaches out to the retired Gibbs when a convicted criminal from the pair’s past escapes from prison and threatens his family.

While out with his young daughter, Agent Fornell of the FBI is shocked to see a face from his past – ex-petty officer Derrick Paulson, who Fornell realises has escaped from prison. Some years ago, Fornell and Gibbs helped send Paulson down for his part in an armed bank robbery which saw him murder all but one of his accomplices. The money from the robbery was never recovered. “I didn’t expect to see you again until 2067,” says Fornell. “You got the wrong guy,” says Paulson. “If there’s a shred of decency in you... you’ll reopen my case and find the right one.”

Fornell visits the retired Gibbs to ask for his help recatching Paulson. “You caught him last time,” he says. “Figured you might like to catch him again.” Though initially reluctant to help, Gibbs changes his mind as soon as he learns that the felon has threatened Fornell’s daughter. Before long, he charges into the office of NCIS director Jenny Shepard and demands to be reinstated. It seems, however, that Shepard ‘accidentally’ forgot to file Gibbs’s retirement package correctly, meaning he still has six days left in charge of his old team.

Keen to waste no more time, Gibbs rejoins his team and instructs Abby to examine Paulson’s prison records and process the contents of his cell. Records show that the only person ever to visit the prisoner was a former Navy sailor called Mickey Stokes. The agents visit Stokes at home and learn that he has been in contact with Paulson since his escape, but Stokes insists that his friend wants only to prove his innocence. However, while the agents are in the house, Paulson drives away in Tony’s car.

When local police find the vehicle nearby, it emerges that Paulson has stolen Tony’s laptop containing all the names and addresses of the witnesses who testified against him at his trial. The FBI is able to warn all of the witnesses except for a Russell Nash –the only one of Paulson’s accomplices to have survived. Nash later testified against Paulson in return for a reduced sentence. “Maybe Paulson is looking for Nash because he thinks Nash has the money,” offers Abby. “Or maybe Paulson is looking for something a little more Biblical,” replies Gibbs.

However, it soon emerges that Paulson may be seeking something other than vengeance. When the agents storm Nash’s apartment, they find that Paulson has laid out some of the evidence from his conviction in order to highlight a number of discrepancies. “For the sake of argument, let’s say that Derrick Paulson wasframed,” says Tony. “That makes Russell Nash your prime suspect,” replies Shepard.

The agents manage to track down their new suspect, but they are too late –Nash is lying dead at the foot of a tall building. Ducky concludes that the victim had been beaten and shot before being thrown from the building. “Whoever did this was after information,” he explains. The bullet is traced back to the same weapon used by the killer of Paulson’s accomplices. If Paulson is indeed innocent, then whoever killed Nash is also guilty of the original crime.

The key to solving the case now lies in tracing the vast amount of money stolen in the original robbery. It is eventually McGee who works out that Mickey Stokes is the killer when he realises that his home is full of incredibly rare and expensive antique furniture –things he could never have afforded on a Navy pension. However, the realisation comes too late to prevent a tense stand-off involving Gibbs, Stokes and Paulson. Can Gibbs talk himself out of another dicey situation, or is his retirement about to be made permanent?