Sergeant Andy Powell arrives at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq with no combat experience and no real desire to acquire any. Assigned to Human Intelligence Exploitation Team 10 in the Hit-Haditha corridor of the volatile Al Anbar Province, he'd rather play Xbox than analyze reports-until marines around him start dying at an alarming rate.

When a new and terrifying improvised explosive device shows up on the battlefield, Sergeant Powell and his inexperienced team of intelligence collectors are thrust into a desperate hunt for a mysterious bomb maker. Every scrap of intelligence could mean the difference between life and death. The marines of HET 10 must connect scattered information, interrogate detainees, and uncover the identity of the determined insurgent leader before he can enact his most devastating attack yet.