Mike Franks is portrayed by Muse Watson, introduced in episode flashbacks in the episode Hiatus (Part 1) . Retired NIS/NCIS Agent Mike Franks was called in to help with Gibbs' memory after he went in a coma due to being caught in a bombing. He is Gibbs' former mentor and partner, still referring to Gibbs as Probie . Although he comes across as crass and uncaring, Franks has been known to be very devious and sneaky, even hiding the fact that he had a son, though Gibbs helped hide his granddaughter and the girl's mother. He was the only survivor of the gun battle that ended Director Shepard's life and found some evidence that the new director was, apparently, looking for, even though he was outside getting himself water for tea when the shooting started and went back in to make sure the other shooters were dead. In his visit to Gibbs' bedside in the fourth season, it is revealed in flashbacks that he warned members of the intelligence community about the threat that Osama Bin Laden posed to American servicemen abroad some time before the Khobar Towers bombing. After the deaths of a number of Air Force personnel in the bombing, Franks retired to Mexico and handed control of the MCRT to Gibbs.In season 7, Franks is seemingly ambushed by Colonel Merton Bell's henchmen and hit men from the Renosa drug cartel. His fate is left ambiguous and it is unknown whether he was killed or captured in the attack. However, later on, Franks appears again to assist DiNozzo in investigating Alejandro. Also, as a result of the gunfight between Bell's and the Renosa Cartel's men, Franks loses his right index finger. In the beginning of Season 8, in the episode Spider and the Fly , he appears after four months by showing up at Gibbs' house to help him, the team, Vance, and Jackson Gibbs destroy Paloma and Alejandro once and for all. Mike Franks was killed by Jonas Cobb, the Port-to-Port Killer , outside of Gibbs' house in the season eight episode Swan Song as he attempted to apprehend Cobb. Franks, a Marine like Gibbs, is given a full military burial at the end of the season 8 finale. Show less «