NCIS (season 7)

­Several months have passed since Gibbs left Ziva in Israel, and no-one at NCIS has heard anything from her since. Concerned that something may be wrong, Tony, McGee and Abby track down her last known whereabouts, and discover that she was on a mission to take out terrorist Saleem Ulman in Northern Africa. Tony and McGee track him down to get answers about Ziva’s disappearance, but are quickly taken prisoner by Saleem. Unfamiliar with NCIS and Tony’s mission, Saleem administers a truth serum and questions Tony extensively about the inner workings of the agency, how he was able to find his base of operations and why he traveled so far in his quest. Unable to keep quiet due to the serum's effects, Tony recaps the three months at NCIS since Ziva disappeared, and reveals that NCIS is under the impression that Ziva is dead. He tells Saleem that he traveled to Northern Africa to seek vengeance on the parties responsible. Saleem then demands that Tony reveal the identities of all NCIS agents in the region, and threatens to kill a hostage if he doesn’t speak. To Tony’s surprise, the hostage is Ziva. However, just as Saleem is about to execute Ziva, Tony tells Saleem one last thing: Gibbs is in Northern Africa too, and Saleem is about to die. Gibbs had been lying in wait the entire time, and just then takes a sniper shot, not only killing Saleem but also the other guards watching over Ziva, Tony and McGee, allowing them to escape. After they all return to the office, everyone stands up and welcomes the team back.

Guest star: Omid Abtahi as Saleem Ulman

­The team investigates a bachelor party where all three guests are murdered and left in very mysterious circumstances. One of the victims is found hanging, another is found drowned in the toilet, the third suffered from alcohol poisoning and all three are found with their heads shaved, post mortem. After a thorough investigation the team zeros in on a suspect, a police officer that had been bullied by the three victims during high school. The way that all three victims were found corresponds with the way they had tormented the cop, right down to shaving his head. They also discover that the three victims had used their Navy connections to set up the illegal sale of a decommissioned aircraft, and that the bachelor party was actually a front for the deal to go down during. The team figures the police officer had finally taken his revenge and not only killed his tormentors, but also stole their profits from the aircraft heist. However, after the officer turns up dead, the team learns that the real culprit also attended the same high school as the original three victims, and had framed the cop so they could steal the money from the aircraft job. Meanwhile, Ziva deals with her feelings towards Tony and apologizes for ever doubting him.

­When the remains of AWOL marine Daniel Cryer are found off the coast of Tanzania by a fishing boat, Ziva’s account of Mossad’s operation to take down Saleem Ulman is called in to question. It turns out that Cryer had deserted the Marines to become a soldier of fortune, and had been part of the team that Mossad had sent after Saleem. Ziva’s story that the ship they had been traveling on had gone down in a storm is proven false by the location of Cryers body, and the fact that he was shot to death confirms that something other than a storm had been responsible for the sinking of the ship. Using the location of Cryer’s body as a guide, the Navy is able to salvage the ship in question and discovers that the entire crew had been shot to death. Vance presses Ziva for more details, but her team leader, Malachi Ben-Gidon, shows up at NCIS and demands that Ziva return to Mossad’s control. Vance agrees on the condition that Malachi debriefs them on the rest of the mission. Malachi agrees and tells them that their cover had been blown and they were forced to kill everyone on the ship, and that Ziva had killed Cryer because he had been responsible for their discovery. However, when Ziva sets the record straight and tells them it was Malachi who had shot Cryer before asking questions, Vance sends him back to Israel. Through all of this Ziva was trying to get a permanent position on the NCIS team, and after proving her loyalty is finally accepted as an NCIS agent.

­On Halloween night the team investigates what looks to be the unfortunate suicide of Lance Corporal James Korby who is found dead in his car. However, they soon discover that Korby was murdered as his organs are frozen with liquid nitrogen. Someone got Korby to drink the nitrogen and staged his death to look it like a suicide. Tony can’t shake the hunch that Sara, Korby’s wife and a three-time marine widower, is involved, suspecting her of being a Black Widow. It's soon revealed that Private Singer, who belonged to Korby’s unit, was having an affair with Korby’s wife Sara. Sara also confesses to coming home to confront Korby right around the time of the crime but getting cold feet at the last second. Just as Tony is about to cuff Sara for Korby's murder, Gibbs realizes that Sara had nothing to do with Korby’s death because there was someone else with a real motive: Rachel, Korby and Sara’s teenage stepdaughter. Having been about to cash in on a pretty hefty trust fund and inheritance, Rachel knew the only way she could do it was by murdering Korby and then framing Sara for his death. ­

­When Gibbs' boat mysteriously shows up in the San Diego harbor with two dead men in it, Vance, Gibbs and Ducky travel to San Diego knowing this investigation needs to be handled with extreme sensitivity. It turns out Gibbs dropped his boat off to Franks in Mexico but Franks is nowhere to be found. Franks shows up at Gibbs' house with his daughter in law, Leyla (Franks' deceased son's wife), and granddaughter in tow. It is revealed that the two dead men worked for a private military company that was hired by Leyla’s mother, Shada, a powerful tribal leader in Iraq, to kidnap and bring back her daughter and granddaughter to Iraq. It was her way of trying to re-establish a relationship with her estranged daughter. Franks takes full responsibility for the shooting but further investigation reveals that it was Leyla who shot and killed the men when she saw them approaching Franks. In the end, the private military company, headed by Col. Merton Bell, is also held responsible for bounty hunting in Mexico, and Leyla and her mother come to terms. ­

Shortly after an attack on an internet service provider, the power to all of Washington DC is down. When the body of a Navy Armed Forces Entertainment worker is found at the site of the attack, NCIS is called in. However, without power, the team cannot use their modern electronics and must solve the case the old fashioned way. They finally discover that the dead USO worker was in fact an undercover National Security Agency agent, one of the two people who had universal access to every retinal scanner in the United States. They then arrest one of the security guards at the service provider, as he is the true mastermind. He kidnapped the agent to gain access to the server room and cut power to the entire city so that he could secretly steal top secret personal and military data and sell it off the black market. The team then reflects on how much richer life is without electronics, until power is restored and they dive right back into their computers except for Gibbs who is more than happy to take a break from electronics for a change.

The team works to solve the murder of a Reverend's son and they soon figure out he may be involved in a hate crime. Gibbs' father returns for Christmas and Gibbs tries to figure out why he has a sudden change in behavior right before the holidays. An old friend of Abby asks McGee for a favour - her nephew (who is living with her) wants to see his mother for Christmas, who is currently on a Marine ship in the Indian Ocean, but only McGee can make it happen. Gibbs figures out that it was the victim's brother who was the culprit, since he couldn't accept his brother's conversion to Islam. Gibbs also discovers that his father killed a man attempting to rob his store and he came to ask for advice on how to deal with killing another man.

The episode starts with two forest rangers finding a body at the site of a forest fire. The team investigates and finds out that the pilot was flying a jet-pack and crashed. An attorney who dislikes Gibbs tries to keep him from talking to her clients. Ducky discovers that the victim had been poisoned and was already dead long before he put the jetpack on, leading to the team to suspect a third party. They figure out that it was the commanding officer, who stole technology from private companies and the Navy to build his own jet-pack and killed the victim to keep him quiet. Later, Gibbs discovers that the sly attorney was sent by an old enemy. This episode ties in with Episode 7 x 06

Recurring characters: Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer and Rena Sofer as M. Allison Hart.

The episode starts when a Saudi prince manages to escape an assassination attempt while attending flight school in the United States. The team is tasked with the investigation as well as protecting the prince. Meanwhile, Tony's father appears, much to Tony's discomfort. His father is a business associate of the prince's father, and is trying to sort out a business deal. Later, the team discovers that the assassins weren't terrorists, but was in fact the prince's brother, who disliked his carefree lifestyle. However, the brother manages to escape the country due to his diplomatic immunity. Tony finds out that his father is actually nearly broke. However, he's unwilling to confront his father. Before he leaves, Tony's father tells Tony that despite their rocky relationship, he has always loved him.

Tony and Ziva's assignment to escort a government witness back from Paris encounters turbulence when they learn a hit man may be on their flight home.^[13] With the help of the rest of the team on the ground, as well as a botched attempt on the witness' life, Tony and Ziva deduce that the assassin is one of flight attendants. After apprehending her, they discover that the man who hired her was in fact the witness' fiance, who would be implicated in her testimony.

The team finds themselves in a race against time when a terrorist group threatens to detonate "dirty bombs” in the D.C. area.^[15] As the team tries to track down the bombs, their investigation is hampered when Hart returns to represent one of their suspects. Despite this, they manage to discover that the entire bomb plot was an elaborate hoax set up by a private intelligence agency to scare Congress into approving a bill that would award private defense contractors billions of dollars in funding.

Recurring characters: Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer and Rena Sofer as M. Allison Hart.

When a Marine is found dead, Gibbs, Fornell and the team hit the open road to bust an illegal trucking operation. With Werth's help, they manage to infiltrate the operation and stop the ringleaders from stealing a pair of very valuable cars. However, further investigation reveals that the owner of one of the cars was involved in a fatal hit and run accident, and that the owner was responsible for the Marine's murder in order to keep him quiet.

Secrets arise when Gibbs's former mother-in-law surfaces as a witness in a murder investigation. At first, the crime appears to be a simple robbery gone awry, but deeper investigation reveals that there's more the story. The victim, a Navy captain, was involved with the same drug cartel that killed Gibbs' first wife and child. His mother-in-law eventually admits that she killed the admiral in revenge for her daughter and granddaughter's death, and Gibbs' tells her he murdered their real killer as well. Despite the confession, Gibbs cannot bring himself to arrest his own mother-in-law. He convinces Allison Hart to defend her, and then on purpose makes crucial legal mistakes on arresting her (not reading her her rights, questioning her without legal council), so Hart in her typical hardball style convinces him swiftly to let her go.

The team and Coast Guard Investigative Service join forces when a Navy diver seeking sunken treasure is murdered. Both teams suspect a wealthy doctor who was funding the treasure hunting expedition is the culprit, but the evidence just doesn't add up. Eventually, they figure out that the diver was scamming the doctor, fooling him into withdrawing cash from his accounts to find a nonexistent treasure. The diver killed the doctor and faked his own death using the body. Both the NCIS and CGIS teams apprehend the diver and the doctor's wife, who was his accomplice.

Gibbs uses Holly Snow (previously seen in the episode: "Jet Lag") to investigate a murder in the world of call girls, causing tensions within the team. After finding the body of a murdered Navy reporter, the team finds out that he was interviewing a prostitute who used to work for Holly Snow and that there have been a string of similar murders. Holly makes a deal with Gibbs to help his investigation and they track down the prostitute, who reveals that the killer is jealous of her seeing other men. At first the team believes that the killer is one of her clients, but find out it is actually her boyfriend, who is the attorney representing her. The killer kidnaps Holly, blaming her for getting his girlfriend into a life of prostitution and seeing other men. However, he is shot dead by Gibbs before he can harm her. The episode ends with Gibbs and Holly having a simple dinner together as part of their deal.

When the NCIS team finds a dead Navy petty officer and FBI informant, they call in Agent Fornell to assist with the investigation. Fornell reveals that a string of similar security leaks have been occurring, and they trace the source to a private security company. They also discover that their NCIS polygraph specialist, Susan Grady, works part time at the same company. After retrieving her, the security company's office is destroyed in an explosion and Susan reveals that she stole some polygraph data for personal use. Abby manages to deduce that the killers inadvertently killed themselves in the explosion, leading Gibbs and Fornell to the real mastermind, a federal judge. She went on a secret crusade to kill informants who would take reduced sentences in return for their testimony, and wanted to destroy the polygraph data as it might implicate her involvement.

DiNozzo finds himself captivated by a woman he's never met while investigating the death of her brother. The woman is the world renowned reporter Dana Hutton, who has disappeared shortly after her brother's death. At first, the team believes that that the murder may be connected with the siblings' work on investigating Private Military Contractors, but begin to suspect that the KGB may be involved when they discovered Dana's brother was killed by a Ricin pellet. It soon turns out that the man who brought Dana Hutton and her brother up was a KGB asset codenamed "Yuri" who owned a bank account on which the KGB stashed $10 million for use in their US intelligence operations. DiNozzo manages to contact Dana and gain her trust, and she helps the team recover Yuri's KGB documents and money, but reveals she had been injected with ricin as well. With the documents, the team find the operative who killed the Huttons as being one of the KGB agents who didn't return to Russia after the Cold War ended and who wanted to get her hands on the money that Yuri had stashed away.

Recurring characters: Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer, Rena Sofer as M. Allison Hart and Marco Sanchez as Alejandro Rivera.

After finding a dead Marine with his feet cut off, as well as a truck full of dismembered feet, the team begins to believe that a serial killer is loose. Meanwhile, Abby is invited to provide a forensic science lecture in Mexico by Alejandro Rivera, and McGee goes along as an escort. While there, Abby is tasked to solve a cold case involving the murder of a drug dealer 20 years ago, and Abby eventually finds out the drug dealer was the one murdered by Gibbs. Back in the United States, the team deduces that the Marine was the killer, acting as a hit man to kill rival drug dealers and kept their feet as proof. One of the drug dealers is apprehended and she admits that she killed him in self defense. Finally, Abby confronts Gibbs about the murder, which Gibbs admits to. They both agree that somebody is trying to dig up Gibbs' past, but Abby is conflicted on whether to drop the case or pursue it and asks Gibbs whether he will love her regardless of what she does.

First Appearance of: Paloma Reynosa

The team is shocked when they discover that a charred corpse found on the beach that is revealed to be that of Special Agent Lara Macy, a fellow NCIS agent and a close friend of Gibbs. They discover that Macy's current case was the rape of a Navy sailor. While they manage to find the rapist, the case is completely unrelated to the murder. Meanwhile, Abby confronts Gibbs about the murder he committed in Mexico, asking him what to do, and Gibbs simply tells her to do her job and file the full report. Gibbs soon becomes convinced that Colonel Bell is responsible and leaves for Mexico. When he finally arrives, he finds Mike Franks' house has been burned to the ground as well as the bodies of several of Bell's men. Gibbs is then captured by one of Bell's henchmen, who reveals that the body that Gibbs thought was Franks is in fact Colonel Bell. Gibbs is then knocked unconscious before he can ask the henchman who he's really working for.

Gibbs' captor is Paloma Reynosa, the daughter of the drug dealer, Pedro Hernandez, whom Gibbs murdered twenty years previously after Hernandez ordered the deaths of both Kelly and Shannon Gibbs. Paloma wants revenge against Gibbs for robbing her of her father and threatens to kill everyone Gibbs has ever met, starting with Mike Franks and ending with his father if he does not start working on her behalf. It is revealed that Alejandro is Paloma's brother and that he opened the case of his father's murder in an attempt to keep Gibbs out of his sister's reach whilst still delivering justice, but things are complicated by the loss of Abby's report from "Patriot Down" - which has been intercepted by Allison Hart to prevent it from reaching Mexico. Meanwhile, Ziva has passed her citizenship test and is expecting Tony and Gibbs to attend her citizenship ceremony. Tony is forced to break his promise to her when the situation escalates, and he is tasked with shadowing Rivera, meeting Mike Franks during the assignment. The episode ends with Paloma traveling to Pennsylvania and entering the store owned by Jackson Gibbs, leaving his fate unknown.

Recurring characters: Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer, Rena Sofer as M. Allison Hart, Marco Sanchez as Alejandro Rivera, Ralph Waite as Jackson Gibbs, and Muse Watson as Mike Franks.