Colonel Katherine Powell [Helen Mirren] wakes up to word that an undercover British/Kenyan operative has been killed by the Al-Shabaab network, setting off a tense, multi-layered response staged from Northwood Headquarters. From this command center, she leads a mission aimed at capturing three of the ten highest‑level Al-Shabaab leaders who are gathered in a safe house in Nairobi, a plan that threads together a multinational team, high‑tech surveillance, and delicate political calculus.
A global collaboration forms the backbone of the operation. A diverse, digitally connected team coordinates the capture through a web of live video and audio feeds, while an unmanned aerial system keeps watch from above: a USAF MQ-9 Reaper drone, controlled from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada by Second Lieutenant Steve Watts [Aaron Paul]. The drone work is complemented by on‑the‑ground intelligence from undercover Kenyan field agents, including Jama Farah [Barkhad Abdi], who use tiny, cutting‑edge cameras—ornithopters and insectothopter devices—to link ground facts with aerial data. Kenyan special forces lie in wait nearby, primed to execute the arrest if the targets come out.
At the same time, a sophisticated facial recognition array at Joint Intelligence Center Pacific in Hawaii helps identify the targets as they surface in the threat picture. Back in the UK, the mission operates under the umbrella of a COBRA meeting, which includes British Lieutenant General Frank Benson [Alan Rickman], two senior ministers, and a ministerial under‑secretary, all weighing the option of how to proceed.
As the intelligence accumulates, Farah discovers a dangerous twist: the three high‑level targets are arming two suicide bombers, signaling an imminent attack on a civilian target. Powell faces a critical pivot: the mission shifts from a capture operation to a kill mission. She asks Watts to prepare a precise Hellfire missile strike on the building, while seeking the counsel of the British Army legal team. The legal advisor cautions that formal approval from higher authorities is required, complicating the chain of command.
Benson and the COBRA members hesitate, and the question is pushed up the line to the UK Foreign Secretary, who happens to be abroad on a trade mission in Singapore. The Foreign Secretary defers to the United States, where the Secretary of State immediately deems the American suicide bomber an enemy of the state, yet the UK side insists on due diligence to minimize civilian harm. The tension intensifies as the clock ticks and the political debate intensifies across both sides of the Atlantic.
Amidst this, Alia [Phoebe Fox], a neighbor who lives near the target building and helps her mother by selling bread, becomes a focal point in the risk calculations. The military and political minds argue about whether it is permissible to launch a strike in a country that is not at war with the US or UK, legally and morally justifiable given the potential for collateral damage. Watts, watching the live feed, sees the more immediate risk in the image of a small girl outside the building and they seek to delay firing until there is a clearer sign that Alia has moved away.
Farah’s cover is jeopardized when he is tasked with buying Alia’s bread to clear her path, and although he succeeds briefly, his plan blows his cover and he must retreat without completing the objective. Powell pushes for a decision, directing her risk‑assessment officer to find parameters that yield a lower civilian‑death figure of 45 percent, then re‑evaluates to a broader 45–65 percent range. The officer is pressured to confirm only the lower figure before the information is passed up the chain, and the strike is eventually authorized.
The countdown culminates in a missile strike on the target site. Watts fires, and the blast destroys the building and injures Alia, though one conspirator survives the attack. A second missile is ordered to finish the job, arriving as Alia’s parents rush to her side. They carry her toward a hospital, but she is pronounced dead.
Back in the London situation room, the under‑secretary lashes Benson for making a kill decision from the relative safety of a chair, prompting a sharp counterpoint: Benson reminds her that he has stood on the ground through multiple bombings and, in a hard‑won moment of resolve, delivers a line that resonates with the cost of war: “Never tell a soldier that he does not know the cost of war.”
