Chapter 17, Execution Summary

Captain Ramirez briefs the soldiers of KNIFE squad and explains the new parameters of their mission. After a nights rest the squad, with Sergeant Dingo Chavez on point, moves in on a drug processing plant in the jungle. They attack with precision and efficiency and kill fourteen men, some of whom returned fire with their AK-47's but many of the victims are simple peasants working at processing the drugs. After the successful action, Captain Ramirez begins to have misgivings about the purpose of the mission, but he leads his men back to their resting post with the bodies of the slain men gathered in a row at the now-destroyed processing plant and a claymore mine rigged to detonate when the first people come to the scene.

Commander Jackson is onboard the carrier Ranger. His mission is to observe the effectiveness...