As the film opens, Captains Craig McCenzie (Christian Slater) and Mike Reed (Freddy Rodriguez) are United States special forces soldiers on a mission to find Osama Bin Laden in an unspecified location in the Middle East. Their mission quickly goes awry when CIA operative Carter Mason (Colm Meaney) turns up independently, but with Reed already having infiltrated the settlement he is unable to extract himself and his cover is quickly blown. Captured by the locals, he is interrogated briefly by Mason, who threatens to emasculate him if he does not disclose the full details of his operation, but he is swiftly freed by McCenzie, much to the displeasure of the agent.