A "meat puzzle" starts when Ducky identifies the pieces of three bodies that were stuffed inside a barrel few months ago and they turn out to be bodies of a judge, prosecutor and jury foreman that worked with Ducky on a rape case 10 years ago. Gibbs believes that Ducky might be the next victim of the killer, so he orders the team to keep him and his mother safe. Even so, Ducky is kidnapped during the investigation and now the team must find him before it's too late.