Three assassins leave two dead DIA clerks and abduct a man from a box. Pride is out on medical leave. Laurel has stayed in town to take care of him. Deputy Director Sanchez wants to make Pride into a regional Special Agent in Charge The missing man has been identified as a former IRA bomb-maker, Terrence Desmond. Pride's replacement, Special Agent Hannah Khoury, arrives and begins issuing orders. Pride and Khoury get to know each other. Laurel tracks Pride down and she's unhappy. The dead men were moving "ghost detainees." The team tracks the detainee's tag to a barn, where he's surrounded by four mercenaries. Three escape by chopper, but LaSalle wings one. They had killed Desmond. Khoury interrogates the prisoner, who says he was a last-minute hire.  Loretta is checking up on Pride for Laurel. Pride gets lightheaded. Desmond was killed right after he was taken. The prisoner was actually a way for the group to infiltrate NCIS headquarters. They attack and capture Roy. Pride and the remainder of his team surrenders. Pride won't give up his computer codes and the leader beats him. Loretta, still free, messes with the circuit breaker. Khoury gives Smith her codes. Then she fools their guard, then she, Pride and Patton attack. Just when they were getting the upper hand, Smith sets off an explosion and they escape. Smith was after access to the NCIS secure server. He was seeking a location for a CIA black site aboard a ship so he could rescue his Russian boss. That ship's captain won't listen, and Smith's plan works. Smith also grabbed FAA codes, which would let them escape uncontested, but Pride's team surprises them at an airstrip. Pride corners Walker and LaSalle and other police catch up with them before Walker can go for his gun. Walker says Pride is suffering from PTSD.