Summary

Chapter 1 introduces Mason as he reflects on his experiences in 2004-2005 as a junior medic and new member of a U.S. Army Special Forces team deployed in Iraq. Mason joined Special Forces because he thought that the work would let him continue in his coal-miner father's example, but admits that he started to doubt his purpose after one particular raid. After the team had arrested the target, a former intelligence officer in Saddam Hussein's army, his teenaged son runs into the room, surprising the American commandos who can see that there is something wrong with boy, His father explains that the boy was kidnapped and tortured by a Shi'a militia group. The team finds the former intelligence officer's young daughter hiding in her room crying, and she too suffers from a physical disability probably genetic in origin. Mason asks the...