For almost half a century, the SEALs have answered their nation's call to battle. And now the Navy's best are going to war five-hundred miles from the nearest sea—to stem the rising tide of violent terror in a volatile desert land.

The intel is sketchy; the battle lines nearly impossible to untangle. But a veteran SEAL team knows what its mission is in the remote mountains of Iraq: to diffuse a terrorist threat that is taking a savage toll in blood, both soldier and civilian. But, though allies and enemies are often indistinguishable in this nightmarish conflict, and even the most carefully planned strategies can explode without warning, the SEALs will prevail . . . or die fighting. And they will never leave a brother behind.