Navy Commander Dan Lenson is assigned an urgent mission in a war-torn, famine-plagued country on the brink of collapse. He and his select team of SEALs, civilian analysts, and relief workers are part of an immense effort to bring food, water, and medical supplies to civilians - while the United States battles pirates from the air and sea and tries to stabilize a corrupt local government. But Dan finds the situation much worse than intelligence suggests. A charismatic Islamic warlord is winning a village-by-village battle with a hit-and-run battle strategy. After a devastating insurgent offensive culminates in a massive hotel bombing, there can be no turning back. With thousands of lives at stake and the humanitarian mission about to fail, Dan and his team must scour the forbidding desert for a man never photographed, whose name they don't even know. And if they find him, they must kill him...or die themselves in a brutal, unforgiving land.