Book excerpt: Major Cobus Claassens commands a team of 150 mercenaries contracted to bring stability to the war-torn West African country of Sierra Leone. Battling overwhelming odds, Cobus and his men train and fight alongside a small contingent of soldiers against a murderous band of 15,000 rebel fighters bent on genocide. No amount of soldiering has prepared the men for the vicious arena of butchery, treachery and mounting political pressure they experience while trying to do what is just. What difference does winning make - if they lose their humanity in the process?