- Nick Torres: I don't understand how you guys are so emotional over a horse.
- Ellie Bishop: A, I grew up on a farm and horses are beautiful animals.
- Alex Quinn: And B, these tears are the end of pepper spray.
- Ellie Bishop: [holding up a box of tissues] Boom.
- Nick Torres: Wait, you guys let Reeves do it?
- Alex Quinn: Hell no.
- Clayton Reeves: I was merely a witness to a whole new universe of foul language.
- Nick Torres: Oh, yeah. Quinn has a potty mouth.
- Clayton Reeves: No, it was Ellie who raised the bar to Olympic heights.
- Alex Quinn: Ah. Even I blushed.
- Ellie Bishop: Well, I know six languages. It's easy to get creative.
- May Dawson: Jody still won't eat. Sounds funny, but you know, they get depressed.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: Yeah, I've seen that before. My daughter, Kelly, she used to ride down by the beach. There was this stable near the water, owned by an old Korean War vet. He started calling her Sergeant Reckless.
- May Dawson: After the war horse. Why?
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: One summer, his wife died, and her horse wouldn't ride, wouldn't eat. Kelly noticed that, and she made it her project. Horse ignored her. But she kept going back. Every day.
- May Dawson: Until the horse started eating.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: Mm-hmm. She knew that that horse just needed a buddy.
- May Dawson: Sergeant Reckless, because like the war horse, your daughter was a lifesaver. So horse sense runs in the family.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: No. Uh, that was all her.
- May Dawson: I saw the way that you were with Jody yesterday. You're just what he needs to break his funk.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: Funk?
- May Dawson: Everybody here has already tried everything; this horse is as stubborn as they come, and I think he's finally met his match, Gibbs. At least I hope so, anyways, if you're willing. A horse that doesn't eat dies.
- Ellie Bishop: The lesser spot-nosed monkey, native to West African forests.
- Nick Torres: Now that's a cute animal.
- Ellie Bishop: They were the source of the skulls found at the crime scene.
- Nick Torres: Not so cute.
- Clayton Reeves: Undercover?
- Timothy McGee: Ambassador Moore has agreed to lead you through a local street market where he believes bushmeat is being sold.
- Nick Torres: Market vendors can lead us to the smugglers.
- Clayton Reeves: Yeah, and the killers. I get it. Why did he ask for me?
- Timothy McGee: Said he liked you.
- Clayton Reeves: He liked me? The man said two things to me: "Hello" and then "get out of the room". I'm pretty sure he thought I was the butler.
- Nick Torres: So did I at first. Reeves, Jeeves. So confusing.
- Clayton Reeves: That's funny. I can also think of something that rhymes with "Nick".
- Nick Torres: Slick?
- Clayton Reeves: Try again.
- May Dawson: Well, what do you know? Good to have you back, pal. What changed, huh?
- [seeing Gibbs in the stable]
- May Dawson: Gibbs, you've been here all night?
- [he shrugs]
- May Dawson: What did you do?
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: What?
- May Dawson: He's eating. Tell me what you did. I could get you a coffee or an aspirin. That's a mighty hard floor.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: [standing up and walking to pet Jody] No. We don't mind. Do we, Jody? He just needed a buddy.
- Timothy McGee: Our victim, Gunnery Sergeant Tanner, was single and had a spotless record. He was part of Marine Corps Forces Africa. Just spent three months in Liberia, where his unit was sent to train wildlife rangers.
- Ellie Bishop: I've heard of that. U.S. Marines teach non-lethal raid tactics; flash-bangs, rubber bullets.
- Timothy McGee: Apprehending poachers is dangerous business.
- Ellie Bishop: Well, these monkeys aren't endangered, but they're part of the illegal animal trade and sold as pets.
- Nick Torres: Not dead ones. Why the skulls?
- Timothy McGee: Maybe they're a message.
- Ellie Bishop: Revenge for Marine involvement in Africa?
- Nick Torres: Well, that still doesn't explain why the guy was in the park with a wallet full of cash. Maybe the skulls were his.
- Ellie Bishop: What? Why?
- Timothy McGee: Skulls are valuable. There's an entire American subculture obsessed with bone collecting.
- Ellie Bishop: How do you know that?
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: [appearing next to them] He dated Abby.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: [tracking the suspect vehicle] You know your trucks.
- May Dawson: I own trucks. Got them and the horses in the divorce. He got everything else.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: What else is there?
- May Dawson: His 23-year-old assistant.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: [laughs] You got the better part of that deal.
- May Dawson: Damn right. I don't have to have dinner with the horse's sorority sisters.
- Leon Vance: This is what you wouldn't say, what you thought this case was leading to.
- Liberian Ambassador Gabriel Moore: My apologies, Director Vance. It is both a source of great pride... and embarrassment.
- Leon Vance: Have a seat.
- Liberian Ambassador Gabriel Moore: We are a nation of survivors. Slavery, civil wars... we strive for progress, but many are still poor, and cattle production is difficult and costly. Bushmeat has been a way of life for generations.
- Leon Vance: Which is why it can wipe out animal populations.
- Liberian Ambassador Gabriel Moore: It is unsustainable, and a health risk. My government desperately tries to teach this to the public, but food is also a cultural touchstone. Used for celebrations, weddings, christenings...
- Leon Vance: More reasons it's smuggled into our country. Old habits die hard.
- [Moore looks at him quizzically]
- Leon Vance: Sorry, that's another turn of phrase. It's difficult to change minds.
- Liberian Ambassador Gabriel Moore: Even more so to change hearts.
- Nelson Ast: [waving vaguely] Um, I think they left.
- Nick Torres: Who the hell are you?
- Nelson Ast: Under arrest, I think. One minute this officer busts me for smoking a joint, the next he handcuffs me to this bench and takes off on his horse.
- Nick Torres: Why?
- Nelson Ast: I'm pretty sure they were chasing someone, but...
- [grinning]
- Nelson Ast: I am kinda high.
- Donald Mallard: It's called bushmeat. Derived from animals native to Africa. Bat, monkey, lion... whatever the local population hunts for protein.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: In Liberia?
- Donald Mallard: In many countries all over Africa. It's outlawed by their governments because it destroys the ecosystems.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: Duck, this case isn't about rhino horns or elephant tusks.
- Donald Mallard: No, it's about food.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: So what's it doing in the U.S.?
- Donald Mallard: Jethro, illegal bushmeat is a worldwide, billion-dollar business. It's smoked, smuggled into the country and then sold on the street to expatriate communities.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: A taste of home.
- Donald Mallard: Well, never underestimate the power of nostalgia. Mere pounds can go for hundreds of dollars.
- Leroy Jethro Gibbs: It's a health risk.
- Donald Mallard: Well, the greatest fear is of an unknown and catastrophic disease. You see, smoking the meat does not kill off all the bacteria.
- Ellie Bishop: Sounds like nightmare soup. It's a shame, I used to like soup.
- Newscaster: Two arrests have been made in connection with the smuggling of illegal bushmeat into the United States. Meat tainted with the Ebola virus...
- Liberian Ambassador Gabriel Moore: Congratulations, Director.
- Leon Vance: The two smugglers gave up their airport contacts pretty fast.
- Liberian Ambassador Gabriel Moore: Be assured my government is following up in Liberia. This will not end here.
- Leon Vance: The ball's in your court now.
- Liberian Ambassador Gabriel Moore: *That* idiom I know.