Summary

Chapter 5 takes place at the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, California. Admiral Gerald Pilsner and Captain Leonard Howard talk by phone with Secretary of Defense Lorraine Hartley. Lorraine is furious that the situation in Afghanistan did not go as planned. She demands they immediately find charges to levy against Reece and hangs up on them. Pilsner orders Howard to “tell the NCIS guys to turn up the heat on Reece” (35).

Chapter 6 takes place at Bagram Air Base, Bagram, Afghanistan. Reece hates that he is being held in Afghanistan while the 68 soldiers are being laid to rest in America. He cannot stop worrying about the possibility that he has a brain tumor. He is interrogated many times before being cleared to go home. Reece keeps thinking, “I was the senior man on the ground,” making all those deaths his fault. His thoughts circle...