Gibbs and the team head back to school when a Marine in an ROTC program is found murdered on a college campus.

When the NCIS team begins their investigation, they quickly turn up a suspect but when he is later found murdered, the team is back at square one. Abby and McGee discover an email chain on one of the suspect's computers referencing a mysterious "Red Cell." Gibbs and the team discovers that the possible motive may have been a game with deadly consequences.