Three children looking for a missing drone witness Lt. Bates, Deeks' old partner, in a firefight with LAPD. Deeks meets with Detective Whiting in the Boathouse. Lt. Bates killed a cop. Bates is suspected of running a group of dirty cops who are moonlighting. She blackmails Deeks into helping her. Deeks picks up Bates, and Bates pulls a gun on him, so that he will drive away from the cops pursuing them. Eric tells the rest of the team that LAPD has put out a BOLO on Deeks' truck. Sam and Callen go to see Whiting, while Kensi and Nell go to the garage where Deeks' phone was last located. They found the pickup and Deeks' phone. Bates takes Deeks to see Simon Atwater, supposedly IA's witness against him. Atwater had accidentally created a virus that kills plants, and his boss, Ryan Wallace, smuggled it out to sell after being warned by someone inside of LAPD. Hetty tells Dang she's vacationing in Vietnam. Wallace's firm, Dexmont Agriculture, is going broke. Sam and Callen crash in the front door, flushing out Wallace, then Kensi and Nell tail him. Hetty grills Harris Keane about Operation Sunshine. Hetty tells him that nobody knew he was still alive. Deeks and Bates try to trick Wallace into telling them where the sale of the virus will take place. But there is a shootout, and Sam and Callen stop Wallace when he tries to drive away. Wallace tells Sam and Callen that the buyer is Steven Lee. The virus keeps getting handed off at the drop site. Sam catches Lee, and Bates grabs Wallace. Bates and Whiting are joking about bringing Deeks back to LAPD. Whiting was noncommittal about whether she was done with Deeks. Keane explained to Hetty how he became a mercenary after he was left behind. Dang is holding Hetty for ransom.