In March 2020, McGee, attempting to stop a plane from taking off, is shot twice by sniper Gibbs. Back in 2019, a Navy musician is killed when falling from a bus. Gibbs takes off for a couple of days, putting McGee in charge. He goes to help Fornell after Emily finishes rehab. Fornell is still trying to track down the leader of the drug ring who supplies drugs to Emily. They're staking out a drug rep, who they hope will lead them up the chain. Gibbs has to keep convincing the eager Fornell to stick to their plan. Gibbs shows up for a concert with a cut over his eye from Fornell, which he won't explain to Jack. Palmer tells Gibbs a body is missing from Autopsy.  Then Palmer's car explodes from an IUD. NCIS Agent Ronnie Tyler, who brought in the body of a Marine corporal, wonders if the missing body and the explosion are connected. Gibbs puts protective custody on both of them. Vance grills Gibbs about his "fishing trip." Ronnie disappears. Someone kidnapped her daughter and demanded she take the body. She needs to drop off the hand at a designated time. Palmer supplies her with a cadaver hand for the drop. A fake homeless man grabs the hand. Torres chases him but he gets run down and killed by a truck. Fornell keeps calling Gibbs while staking out the pill mill. The "homeless man" was one of the dead sailor's neighbors that Bishop and Torres had interviewed earlier. Ronnie's daughter is kept near his home, in an underground shelter. The man had stolen the sailor's life savings. Fornell found the drug rep dead and took a key off his body. Fornell is chasing down a lead alone but promises to contact Gibbs in two weeks.