1.13: "One Shot, One Kill"

by Sammie

A Marine recruiter has been shot in his office, and no one heard or saw the shot besides two potential recruits...who were sitting right there when it happened. Tony's been distracted by the prospect of getting dates wearing a uniform.

TONY. You think [Gibbs]'d let me borrow his uniform for a weekend?
KATE. I don't know. I just hope I'm there when you ask him.

Kate and Tony are in the warehouse next door, looking for the bullet. It ended up in a box of dolls shipped out to Virginia...and now being rerouted to Abby.

[ALL THE BABY DOLLS' HEADS LINED UP ON ROWS]
TONY. Is there a reason you pulled all their heads off, Abby?
ABBY. It's so we know that we've checked them.
TONY. Yeah. But the one with the round in it was sitting practically on top. You emptied the entire box.
ABBY. [SHEEPISHLY] Well, it was kinda fun.
TONY. And they're naked.

Dinnertime!

KATE. Relax your hand, or you're never gonna get it in your mouth.
TONY. I'm trying, but this thing's too damn slippery.
KATE. Never gonna impress a girl that way.
TONY. Oh, whatever. Just promise me the next time that we decide to do this, Kate, make sure that they don't forget the forks. No one like's a show off. Screw this. Got any soup?
KATE. [CHEERFULLY HANDS TONY A STYROFOAM CUP]
TONY. Ahhh.
GIBBS. That had better not be mine, Dinozzo.
TONY. Gibbs ordered soup?
KATE. [NODS WITH A BIG SMILE] (Haha!)

Dirty, grungy, yucky lookin' warehouse.

GIBBS. Hey, Dinozzo, kinda reminds me of your apartment. 'Cept for that minty fresh urine smell.
TONY. For your information, I have a maid now.
GIBBS. You can afford a maid?
TONY. It's amazing what you can do when you don't have to pay three alimonies.
GIBBS. [SHINES HIS FLASHLIGHT IN TONY'S FACE]
TONY. Ow!

Next morning, Kate reports that they have a suspect - a Sgt. Aaron Barnes, who is a sniper and a sniper instructor and who was really mad at Alvarez for making it seem like he could become an officer when his GPA was too low. His alibi doesn't check out, either. Problemo? A second recruiter is shot while Barnes is still in custody.

When they arrive, though, the FBI's there, too. Gibbs sends Tony off to make a fake bullethole while Kate looks for the real one.... They've got the bullet, and Gibbs finds more - a little white father, like Carlos Hathcock's...Hathcock, who's a famous Marine sniper. Kate thinks it's a calling card.

Kate and Tony search Alvarez's office for the same feather. Tony's whining about having to volunteer to take the floor because he's the guy. Kate opens up a closet door and sees cockroaches in the top shelf, then quietly shuts the door and volunteers to take the floor. They switch, and...GIRLY SCREAM! from Tony when he sees them. Kate laughs. Kate 2, Tony zip.

Barnes is cleared, and now they're back to nothing. Kate's profile of the killer says that he's living in a fantasy world, certainly not military, and he's going to kill again in 24 hours. Gibbs has got a solution - he's going undercover as the next recruiter.

Tony is annoyed and a little jealous that he doesn't get to go undercover as Gibbs' commanding officer. Kate gets to do everything he most likely wants to - wear a uniform, go undercover, and boss Gibbs around! Gibbs heads out, and Kate informs him that Gibbs told her Tony'd be in uniform too. Tony is all excited, and Kate smiles sweetly.

Cut to Tony in a construction worker's uniform. (Hahahahaha...Kate 3, Tony zip. She's really running up the score.) He's up on a utility pole, talking to Abby by radio as he wires up these little sound transmitters that are supposed to pick up the sound signals of a sniper shot.

TONY. Gibbs gets Dress Blue Charlies, I look like one of the Village People.
ABBY. Haha. Maybe you could find a local cop and get a dance routine going.
TONY. Ahaha.
ABBY. How you doin'?
TONY. I'm hardwiring the main microphone to the, ah, DSL line now. I've already got the other two on a wireless relay. There we go. Y'know, if this works, Abs, you're a genius.
ABBY. Oh, Tony, tell me something I don't know.

They've put a new glass into Alvarez's old office, and Alvarez's CO is there with Gibbs when Kate enters. He wants to stay, but Gibbs gets him to leave. Not long after, the first kid comes in.

TONY. [ON THE RADIO] What are you doing, giving away free X-Boxes in there? This is the tenth kid this morning.
KATE. [ON THE RADIO] He's really good at this. I'm even thinking of signing up.
...
GIBBS. You realize we have an office in Richmond. Why drive all the way down here to see a recruiter?
BLOND KID. I was watching the news. Thought I'd check it out.
GIBBS. Sniper doesn't scare you?
BLOND KID. Well, I figure he was shooting recruiters, not recruits, right?
GIBBS. [GRINNING] So, you drive all the way here to see if I get shot or not?
BLOND KID. [A LITTLE WIDE-EYED, SHRUGS SHEEPISHLY]

A recruit comes in, very interested in the sniper thing, and uncertain. Kate thinks he's the one, and Gibbs doesn't object. He leaves, and Gibbs goes to get a drink of water when he sees the feather on the watercooler. Kate radios Tony, but it's a little late - the sniper shoots, and the bullet lodges in the new Plexiglass window. Even Gibbs goes wide-eyed and stunned as Kate gasps.

Tony goes after him, and it's Tony who takes him down. FBI, of course, takes the credit for it. Sure enough, he was a Marine recruit...who wasn't in the military. He was a wannabe. In his truck are lots of Marine recruiting posters...and a little white feather. Back at the office,

GIBBS. [LEAVING] DiNozzo. [PASSING KATE] Cap'n.
KATE. [GRINS AT GIBBS]
TONY. So what was it like? ... Being his superior officer.
KATE. You mean, did I get to boss him around? Make him salute me? Call me 'ma'am'?
TONY. Basically.
KATE. It was great.
TONY. Nah, you're lying.
KATE. Am I? Y'know, Abby said you looked really good in your uniform too.
TONY. Did she.
KATE. Yeah. [AS SHE'S LEAVING] She said you'd fit right in with the biker boy, and the Indian chief, and the cowboy and all the other macho, macho men. [LAUGHTER]

______________________________________________________________

Crazy Credits

• Marine sniper GSgt. Carlos Norman Hathcock II (1942-1999), a.k.a. "White Feather", had 93 confirmed kills in Vietnam (not 39, as Gibbs says), an estimated of 300 total. The Vietnamese called him "Long Trang" for the white feather he wore in his hat. He had a $30,000 bounty put on his head by the North Vietnamese when most of the American snipers had a bounty of $50 to $100 US dollars. He was awarded a Silver Star.

• Brad Hawkins (Sgt. Aaron Barnes) also appeared in a "JAG" episode about questionable recruiting methods.

• Francesco Quinn (Gunnery Sergeant Freddy Alvarez, the recruiter in the teaser) is the son of Anthony Quinn.

• from Kip
  • We love working with Francisco [Quinn, playing Alvarez] and wanted to save him for a bigger part down the road, but he wanted to do this.

    Quinn played several bad guys (terrorists twice) on Bellisario's series "JAG".

  • on Gibbs' short hair:
    It is the actors choice for the character who is a former Marine Gunney. In one episode another gunny remarked on how long his hair was. ["My Other Left Foot": the Marine said that a sheepdog had shorter hair than Gibbs'.] He cut it even shorter. Then to go under cover as a recruiting Gunny, the actor cut it even shorter.

    All in keeping with Mark Harmon's determination to play the character including hair. Mark even says, it's certainly not his choice, but it is the characters.