Ten hopeful recruits to the SAS face their final and toughest challenge yet - a three-day combat survival course in the Welsh mountains, where they must evade capture by 40 Paras while navigating rough terrain and swollen rivers. Mick Sharp hopes to join his mate Jamie in the regiment, but Henno is out to make life difficult for him. But when two soldiers are found dead, it appears an even greater danger lurks in the woods.

Red Troop is called to a pharmaceutical laboratory after three Chechens break in to an area where scientists are working on a vaccine for a deadly form of anthrax. The gang threaten to release the anthrax, killing thousands, unless they are given money. Caroline gains access by posing as a doctor but Henno is captured and shot. Is blowing up the building and everyone inside it the only solution?

Jamie is kidnapped during a violent ambush in Northern Ireland while impersonating Bill Gracey, a politician whose life is in danger. Henno is furious, knowing his protégé faces torture and likely death. Breaking orders, he heads off into the Republic with Caroline in search of Cullen, a republican double agent, while Jem and Twamley do some digging of their own. Can they find Jamie before time runs out?