Years of drought and famine have brought Ashaara to the brink of chaos. When the government falls, a charismatic young warlord known as Al-Maahdi begins an armed insurgency. As thousands of refugees stream toward camps, the United States intervenes to feed them, and to try to stabilize a strategically important region.
Commander Dan Lenson and his Tactical Analysis Group find themselves at the heart of the humanitarian mission. The team helps coordinate food and water supplies, manages massive port and inland logistics, and directs strikes against insurgents and pirates. Dan is torn between the plight of men, women, and children struggling to survive, and the brutal reality of fighting a ruthless enemy whose tactics checkmate American might. NCIS agent and fellow Muslim Aisha ar-Rahim meets with Al-Maahdi to attempt to arrange a cease-fire . . . but fails. A devastating insurgent offensive and a massive hotel bombing wipes out the last hope for democratic government.
With thousands of lives at stake and the humanitarian mission about to collapse, Dan, along with SEAL master sniper Teddy Oberg, has to scour a forbidding desert, find Al-Maahdi, and kill him, fast.