A weapons test goes awry, killing two Marines. The general in charge of the War Fighting Laboratory requests an independent investigation of the incident. Col. Turnbull wants Abe and Harper to conduct that investigation. Maya has been ducking calls from Trey, her new boss. Glenn gives Maya a special assignment in Afghanistan. She's to decide whether the American command can drop a powerful bomb in order to killer an international assassin. Abe and Harper meet Lt. Meszaros, the developer of the system that failed. They also meet NCIS Agent Scout Mannion, who has a history with Abe. The NCIS cyberteam finds a glitch in the software. Abe points out that someone logged in with the late Major Luhr's credentials to sabotage the test. Abe decides to check into a competing drone manufacturer who might have done the sabotage. Harper learns how to examine computer code to determine who created it. The code pointed to Meszaros. Maya discovers that Glenn's missing son Adam may be in the area under consideration for bombing. Trey will be defending Meszaros, who admits to tampering with the code in order to highlight the dangers of artificial intelligence. Abe and Trey reach a deal. Abe pulls the agreement after Harper finds out that Meszaros arranged for Luhr to be the target, so it was murder. Glenn's husband Asa urges her to stall. Harper interviews Luhr's widow, who says that Meszaros's girlfriend was a point of contention between them. The girlfriend is actually a Russian spy, and Meszaros was going to give her the details of the weapons lab. Glenn approves the bombing. Abe drops his file on the spy near Luhr's widow, so that she could accidentally introduce the information while testifying. Judge Talley lets it stand. Meszaros wanted every country to have that information.