'NCIS: New Orleans' Agents Held at Gunpoint in Tuesday Night Preview

A new preview shows the agents getting in and out of danger on this week's episode of NCIS: New Orleans.

The first sneak peek at Tuesday's new episode, titled "Crab Mentality," shows agents Hannah Khoury (Necar Zadegan), Tammy Gregorio (Vanessa Ferlito) and Sebastian Lund (Rob Kerkovich) held at gunpoint. The three sneak onto a construction site through a hole in the fence. After Lund goes off on his own, Gregorio and Khoury have a run-in with two of the employees there.

The employees demand that the agents get off the premises, hesitant to believe that they work for the government. They do not even want to give Khoury a chance to get her badge, telling them instead to leave and come back with a warrant. Gregorio helps diffuse the situation by critiquing their posture.

"You know, the way you're holding those shotguns, they go off, you're going to pop you shoulder right out of the socket," she notes, her hands still raised. The two try adjusting their posture a couple of times, but she continues shaking her head.

"Just forget it, you're embarrassing yourselves, she says, when Lund finally returns to assist them.

The sticky situation is just the beginning of the episode, judging by another teaser released over the weekend. This one shows Agent Dwayne Cassisus Pride (Scott Bakula) grilling the boss of the hostile construction site, Jax Inc. It sounds like the two shotgun-wielding employees may have been more desperate than dangerous, as she explains that she has "lost 100 employees in the last couple of months." Pride is more concerned about three employees who have gone missing, one of whom had a brother in the U.S. Navy who was investigating their disappearances.

Jax Inc., it turns out, is developing technology to strengthen levies and seawalls against natural disasters, after its founder lost her entire family in the 2004 tsunami. She is overwhelmed by financial troubles, sabotaged equipment and anonymous threats.

Of course, this is just the beginning of this week's mystery. NCIS: New Orleans is going strong in its fifth season, with just a few episodes left this year. The show has not yet been canceled or renewed for another season, but it is a steady performer in the ratings, so its chances are good.

NCIS: New Orleans airs on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.