Sergeant Jo McDonagh is in Bosnia on Close Protection detail as part of an international operation to capture wanted war criminal Radan Vladic.

At the remote farmhouse of Vladic's proposed arrest, only the slain remains of an advance Special Air Service (SAS) team are found, seemingly murdered in an ambush. The SAS Major at the scene is ready to call the deaths collateral damage and move out, but Jo thinks there is more than meets the eye and insists the area is preserved as a crime scene.

While boar-hunting Lance Corporal Clive Morrigan becomes prey to another hunter. Investigation into his death leads from poaching to more intimate suspects; namely, his wife, his lover, and his lover's husband.

Investigation into the death of a private during routine training exercises reveals the existence of an underground fight circuit. Suspicion falls upon an unpopular Sergeant when evidence of extortion surfaces.

Lance Corporal Paul Engels is killed by a stray mortar, and Sgt. Charlie Fleckner narrowly escapes, SIB are called in to investigate what appears to be a tragic accident. But it soon becomes clear that there are just too many suspicions to write off Engel's death - suspicions that are compounded when Engel's brother claims Fleckner's innocence might not be that clear cut.

The team's investigations lead them to some photographs that indicate Engles and Fleckner shared a secret - they were involved in an apparent war crime in Iraq. More than enough motive for murder. However, the situation soon escalates when the team uncovers evidence of an illicit love affair that involves blackmail, betrayal and retribution. An affair is ultimately the cause of Engels' demise.

Overshadowing the whole investigation is the increasing unrest within the team. Jo and Roper's relationship becomes more intense. Burns cannot decide if he should leave SIB and accept a commission, and Vicary's given the opportu

A group of soldiers are sitting in a garage playing cards and drinking. Private Barham is drunk but decides he wants more and takes off in an armored personnel carrier, tearing through the base like a mad man. After a high speed chase, Barham crashes the vehicle into an abandoned building. When the Red Caps arrive, they make a gruesome discovery - there is a mummified corpse hanging from the debris.

SIB search the abandoned building a find Barham's electrocuted body; one of the team is nearly killed in the process. It's after this accident that things begin to fall into place. The corpse is that of Private Exxner. Exxner had gone absent without leave just before his unit was sent to Iraq. He was also a known drug user. From this, SIB discovery that Exxner was the lynch pin of a drug ring that covered the whole unit, and included many who did not return from the Gulf. It's up to the team to trawl through the evidence of cowardice, bravery, loyalty and honor to find out who killed Exxner