Captain Nathan Dixon, US Army Rangers, having successfully completed a dangerous, vital combat mission with the Virginia National Guard, has been specially chosen to command Company A, in the elite 3rd Battalion, Rangers. These men have been hand-picked to be part of the new Joint Task Force Sierra. This special task force has been swiftly formed to conduct special anti-terrorist operations in the Philippines and Indonesia, in response to a major terrorist threat. Unable to match the American command in mobility or firepower, a charismatic terrorist leader has united the various Islamic terrorist factions into a confederation. Their ultimate aim is to drag the United States into a protracted war of attrition in hopes of breaking the US's will to continue with their efforts. But in order to carry out their plans, the terrorists must play a deadly game of cat and mouse as they attempt to draw the American forces into ambushes and small, bloody encounters.

Lieutenant General Scott Dixon, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operation with the U.S. Army, and Nathan's father, is deeply involved in the task force's operation. It is his duty to put his own son in harm's way. But they both soon realize that these enemies are so elusive that they're practically impossible to hunt down. And, to make matters worse, they are killing American troops almost at will. The more the task force progresses, the higher their body counts; their efforts are beginning to seem futile. Meanwhile political, military, and bureaucratic struggles are ensuing as to this mission's future, and the situation on the ground is worsening. Captain Dixon and his troops know that even though they continue to fight, their mission's fate has yet to be determined and their struggle to survive is getting greater than ever.