'NCIS: Los Angeles' Team Finds Themselves on Cartel Hit-List in New Episode

In this week's episode of NCIS: Los Angeles, Callen, Hanna and the rest of the team find themselves on a drug cartel's hit list.

In a preview clip from "Hit List," Callen (Chris O'Donnell) and Hanna (LL Cool J) meet up with CIA Agent Vostanik Sabatino (Erik Palladino) at a crime scene where the director of the West Coast Office of Drug Control Policy is found dead in a car trunk. At first, Callen was confused about why they were brought to the scene, but Sabatino explained that Mosley (Nia Long) and her son were on a drug cartel hit list found on the killer's cell phone in the car.

The hit list also included a photo of the NCIS team. Although the cartel does not have their names, Sabatino said photos and descriptions of them have been distributed among drug cartel assassins. Mosley and her son have $1 million bounties on their heads.

At the end of last season, the NCIS team went to Mexico on an off-the-books mission to save Mosley's son. While it was a success, Hidoko (Andrea Bordeaux) was killed, Callen broke his back and was sidelined for an episode and Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) was left unconscious briefly. The mission also put the team under a federal microscope and Kilbride (Gerald McRaney) was brought in to keep an eye on them.

In "Hit List," Special Prosecutor John Rogers (Peter Jacobson) and NCIS Deputy Director Louis Ochoa arrive in Los Angeles to interview Mosley about the Mexico mission. Esai Morales was cast to play the NCIS Deputy Director, who surprisingly supports the team and helps them plan the answers to the questions they face.

"Following the rescue mission in Mexico from last season's finale and this season's premiere, our NCIS: Los Angeles team will face challenging repercussions but they will have a new ally in the Deputy Director," executive producer R. Scott Gemmill said in a statement in August. "We are thrilled that the talented Esai Morales has signed on to this recurring role."

Morales is a familiar face to CBS viewers, having previously appeared in episodes of Criminal Minds, Blue Bloods and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. He also appeared in From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series and How To Get Away With Murder.

New episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles air on CBS Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: CBS