NCIS: Los Angeles Season 13 Episode 18 Recap: Hard for the Money

A homeless man discovers the body of a woman at the beach. Deeks and his contractor Max are working at childproofing their house for foster care while Kensi is giving a deposition. The dead woman was Nikki Lee, employed in the Navy's missile defense program. Sabatino has dropped by. He's part of an interagency task force looking into stolen missile technology. Sabatino is going into the field with Sam. Deeks' social worker comes up with more to be done. Lee's abusive ex has an alibi. Lee had downloaded the stolen technology before she was killed. Lee's car was found at a marina miles away from where her body was found. Fatima and Rountree locate a content creator who was filming the parking lot where the car was found. Big Wes, the owner of a social club where Lee went, won't give up his security footage. Fatima and Rountree find surveillance of Lee being abducted. Sam tells Sabatino that he needs to sell the boat so he can take care of his father. Deeks and Shyla discover that Lee's commanding officer, Commander Hudson, was at the club. He tries to run from Sam and Sabatino. Hudson downloaded the tech from Lee's computer and took it to Big Wes, to whom he owed money. Lee confronted Hudson then Big Wes grabbed her. Hudson doesn't know to whom Big Wes is selling the technology. The team heads to a warehouse where Big Wes is likely to be making the sale. They all come under fire. Fatima and Rountree take down Big Wes and the buyer, recovering the technology. Sabatino was right that the Libyans were behind the buyer. Sabatino tells Sam that Michelle wouldn't want him to sell the boat. Deeks admits to Kilbride that the whole process of preparing to be foster parents is draining.