Tonight on CBS NCIS returns with an all-new Monday, April 14, 2025, season 22 episode 18 called, “After the Storm,” and we have your weekly NCIS recap below.
In tonight’s NCIS season 22 episode 18 called “After the Storm,” as per the CBS synopsis, “When a trio of combat vets are found murdered in a D.C. motel room, NCIS tracks down a suspect who refuses to talk to anyone but Sam Hanna (LL COOL J).”
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In tonight’s NCIS episode, someone was reporting a noise complaint to their hotel when he had enough. He was tired of the noise. He was tired being told the motel couldn’t do anything. He started banging on the wall and threatened to call the cops. Unfortunately, what he got in return were several bullets.
Willie Loman was a travelling salesman and he didn’t know that he wasn’t talking to his noisy neighbors anymore. The three people from the room next door had been murdered. The killer was making his escape when he heard what poor Willie said. And shot him up through the wall from next door.
There was a suspect found nearby that was covered in blood. When apprehended, he spouted off a badge number. It was NCIS Special Agent Sam Hana’s badge number.
The guy wouldn’t say anything else than that badge number. He wouldn’t even give his name. He wasn’t talking and so NCIS reached out to Sam. Sam was no longer an NCIS Agent anymore. He took time after his Elite team was killed. He now works as an expert for the senate defense committee. He wears suits now and tries to save the world with a laser pointer.
The job was safe. His kids were safe. He didn’t have to worry about burying anyone else. The only issue was when the senators shoot down a plan that could save thousands because it doesn’t look good for their upcoming elections. Sam was struggling with that part when NCIS reached out to him.
They believe that they had Mark Davis in custody for the four murders. They just didn’t know who he was. Sam had to tell them. Mark was Special Forces. He did a lot of Covert Ops and so neither his name nor his photo was in their system. Sam explained that it got deliberately scrubbed as a means of protecting Mark in the field.
Sam knew Mark. Mark saved his life a few times. He knew that Mark was as solid as it comes. He wouldn’t be involved in four murders stateside and the man they had in custody was not Mark.
Sam confronted the guy. He explained he was Sam Hana. Only once he knew it was safe that the other guy admitted who he was. Sam was right he wasn’t Mark. He was Mark’s brother, Roger. Roger and Mark haven’t really spoken in years. His brother didn’t come back from war in the best place. The two of them look alike. They just had two different life experiences.
The two of them weren’t talking when suddenly Mark called his brother last week. He said he was in trouble. He wouldn’t give Roger the details. He just said that if anything happens that Roger should ask for Sam. Sam could be trusted. He was one of the few that Mark trusted explicitly. Roger tried to get details from his brother about what was going on and the call ended. Roger then went looking for his brother. He tracked him to that motel where he found the bodies. He got blood on him when he checked to see if any of them were his brother.
They weren’t. Mark wasn’t killed at the motel. He put his faith in Sam. Sam didn’t let him down. He proved Roger didn’t kill those four men. They were killed in the early morning when Roger was on the road. Roger may be innocent, but Mark might not be. Sam found out that Mark and the three original victims were all part of some extreme training out in the woods. They were also all veterans. There had been a woman that Mark was seen arguing with. She was trying to skip town when NCIS stopped her.
She was another veteran. She said that she got recruited by Mark for a job. They worked at a company called “Iron Horizons”. They were told it was a security job and then they learned that they weren’t protecting the good guys. They were protecting warlords, drug kingpins, and worse. The woman told Mark she was out once she saw what the job actually did. She then heard about three guys that she knew were involved in Iron Horizons getting gunned down. She thought Mark killed them to keep them quiet and she wanted to flee town before she was next.
NCIS didn’t believe the woman’s story at first. They never heard of Iron Horizons. There was no digital footprint and so Sam had to tell them about it. He heard about the group from a senate briefing. He also knew that Mark wouldn’t kill his fellow vet to protect people like that. Mark left behind a note at the motel. No one could understand what he wrote. It looked like gibberish before Sam remembered. He taught Mark origami. Mark wasn’t any good at it. He only knew how to create the one bird and so Sam folded the note into that bird.
It was numbers. It led to an IP address where Mark has been gathering evidence against Iron Horizon. He found out they were taking advantage of desperate veterans and he was doing his best to take them down. The men at the motel weren’t victims of Mark. They were sent to silence Mark. Mark’s evidence also showed that Iron Horizons was a huge donor to a senator that Sam knew. Sam threatened the man with a political scandal. It was enough to get access to Iron Horizons’ bank accounts. They were paying for a ship off the coast of Maryland.
NCIS went to the location. They found that the ship was being run by Russians. Yup, the Russians were involved again. They were behind Iron Horizons. They were buying themselves a senator. They had Mark and another man as hostages on that ship. NCIS tried to be stealthy only the Russians heard them. They didn’t want to waste bullets and neither did NCIS. They got into a fist fight. NCIS won. They called in for backup. They rescued Mark. Mark told them that it was woman that worked for Veteran Affairs that told these men about his skillset.
The veterans didn’t know what she was doing. Mark trusted her. It wasn’t until Mark went to her for help in reporting Iron Horizons that he realized she worked for them. She sold him out. She told the company about him and almost got him killed. She was arrested for the part she played. Hopefully, someone better will fill her position and get these veterans actually help.
And Sam resigned from his position with the senate defense committee. He hated the paperwork and Director Vance had bigger things to worry about. He found out that McGee was investigating NCIS Deputy Director LaRoche. If McGee messes this up, they’ll all go down.
THE END!
