Plot

A Marine sergeant dies of gunfire during an alleged armed robbery; Gibbs and company investigate. Gibbs responds to a call for help for his dad; Tony and McGee take over; Abby provides an important fact.

A Marine sergeant, Dawson, dies of gunfire during an alleged armed robbery of a men's clothing store in Washington, DC; Gibbs and company investigate; while at the scene Gibbs receives a call from a local cop nearby in Howard County, Maryland, near Baltimore, saying that his father, Jackson, has become involved in an "incident"; Jackson wants Leroy to go with him to see a fellow WW2 pilot in North Carolina, so they go. The rest of the team step up to the plate; Gibbs tells McGee to take the point; Tony and McGee compete and compromise; while Tony talks with Dawson's mother, she says something unusual, then he turns up a pattern; he and McGee pursue it. Abby learns more about Dawson; McGee identifies a person of interest, who gives a touching account; then Tony and McGee check out a second suspect, find incriminating evidence, and bust the killer. Abby traces Jackson's friend, then Leroy and Jackson go to him, and Jack introduces the other two to each other.—DocRushing

We start with the body of the week, Sgt. Michael Dawson, dead in a robbery in a suit store.

Gibbs' dad calls him.

Tony talks to the owner, "Mr. Spiffy." A guy came in with a mask and a gun and demanded the money. He was going to turn it over, but Sgt. Dawson intervened and the robber shot him and ran off. "Spiffy" looks like he's going to lose his lunch.

There have been three other armed robberies in the area this month. Gibbs answers the call from his dad -- but it's not his dad, it's a police officer. Gibbs hears his dad ranting in the background, asking them what law he broke.

Back at the office, Tony is more concerned with what happened with Jackson than their case. He thinks Jackson got busted with a "lady of the night." Or he was trying to buy an exotic pet.

McGee thinks Tony is in a mood. Tony dumps a box of files from Metro PD on McGee's desk and announces he's taking point. He tells McGee to go through them looking for a connection.

Gibbs picks his dad up from the station, thanking the officer for handling it. Jackson's ornery, he hit a parked car. The officer says they need to take his license away.

Jackson was on his way to pick up Gibbs to go visit an old war buddy in North Carolina after receiving a letter from the man saying he's dying. He has things he needs to say to him.

Jackson remembers the war and radioing in that he's hit.

Jackson reminds Gibbs of the name Walter Beck, the other pilot from a story Jackson told him about flying. Jackson insists that Gibbs meet Walter. "I need you to do this, please," Jackson says.

In the lab, Abby tells Tony that Dawson was killed with a Glock 17 .9 mm, similar to the gun used in the other robberies.

Tony conferences McGee in with Gibbs. He says the other robberies seem similar. Gibbs tells McGee he has point. McGee starts giving Tony orders.

On the road, Jackson remembers being in the air with a busted compass and no ammo, radioing for help. Gibbs thinks he knows the story.

Tony talks with Michael's mother. She didn't know he was on leave. She assumes he was working on something, which is the only reason he wouldn't call.

Gibbs and his dad stop at a diner, but Jackson is extremely anxious to get back on the road.

Tony brings McGee surveillance footage from outside the suit shop that shows Dawson was being followed -- they now think the shooting was staged to look like the other robberies.

Tony and McGee agree to be co-point on the case. Michael Dawson was on seven day leave from Anacostia, nothing odd in his bank records. He had a minor drug charge years ago, but that's it. He was on loan working for the Defense Clandestine Service, even though he was a mechanic.

Jackson and Gibbs reach Walter's house in North Carolina. Gibbs learns that Walter didn't know they were coming.

Jackson remember looking over midair and seeing Walter flying next to him and motioning for him to follow.

"He saved me, Leroy. I was flying in the wrong direction. He turned me around, brought me home on his wing," Jackson said. He wants to wait for Walter.

McGee and Tony meet with Dawson's DCS boss, Karen Fox, who says he was an incredible asset. They ask for his files. She references his past pain pill problem and the fact he seemed stressed lately.

But Abby reports he had no drugs in his system. Abby figures out that Dawson speaks Jala, because that's what his mother spoke growing up in Nigeria. There's a Nigerian terrorist group using it as a code because so few speak it.

Abby got the tip from McGee's girlfriend at the DoD. They think Karen Fox brought up Dawson's pill use to throw them off the trail and buy the DCS time to cover their tracks.

They send word to Gibbs, who tells his dad it's time to go home. Jackson gets upset, saying again he wants Gibbs to meet Walter.

Tony and McGee try to figure out where to go next, wondering how to get the DCS files. Gibbs shows up at the diner, telling them they have to go to DCS to read the files.

McGee briefs Gibbs, saying not only could he not find record of Walter Beck in a hospital or morgue, there's no record of him serving with Jackson.

In the morgue late at night, Duckie commiserates with Gibbs over the pain of watching a parent age. Gibbs is disturbed that his dad lies to him about things that matter. Duckie urges him not to give up.

Gibbs tells his dad about finding no record of Walter Beck. Jackson isn't surprised -- Beck was German, the enemy. Walter wrote to Jackson and said he saved him that day to remind himself of who he was. He's dying and all he can think of is the people he killed over ideas that weren't his.

Gibbs agrees to try to try to track him down.

Tony and McGee report back after their night reading at DCS -- Dawson broke the Jala code so they don't think DCS had any reason to want him dead.

Gibbs sees in Dawson's phone records that only two people called him at work, his mother and a guy named Aaron Connelly. He drives an SUV like the one they're looking for. They go to his apartment, where Connelly busts out of his closet and tackles McGee. After they subdue him, he insists he didn't want Dawson dead.

Back in interrogation, they found that Connelly was on bath salts and PCP. Connelly insists he didn't know the weed was laced. They haven't been able to find the murder weapon.

Connelly admits he drove by the suit shop, but he didn't kill him. Dawson was his sponsor in Narcotics Anonymous.

Connelly says he showed up at Dawson's place high and it crushed Dawson. He took Connelly's stash and took off to confront Connelly's dealer -- the owner of the suit shop.

Tony looks through the drawers of the suit shop and finds a hidden compartment full of heroin. Mr. Spiffy says he didn't kill Dawson, but then Tony finds the murder weapon.

Down in the lab, Abby has determined what ambulance company transported Walter. They look in his letter to Jackson and see the name of a hospice.

Gibbs takes Jackson to the hospice and gently suggests his dad move in with him. "I appreciate the offer, I do. Maybe I'll take you up on it when I start getting old," Jackson says.

Inside, Walter cries when he sees Jack and hugs him. Jack introduces Gibbs, saying what he did made his son possible and Gibbs helps people. Jackson says his son is the best person he knows.