Even Unto the End

Not since GEN George S. Patton Jr. has the US Army had a true firebrand, someone who bluntly says what needs to be said and does what needs to be done, damn the consequences. COL Zachariah Matrix is that firebrand. A foul mouth and a fire-and-brimstone preacher of war. War as it is as opposed to a unicorn-and-rainbow fairy tale many dream of it as.

Matrix is introduced to the world at large when he stops an attempted terrorist attack at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. He, alone, kills the six would-be attackers and proceeds to humiliate the powers that be at the press conference that follows. His conservative morals find him time and again in direct opposition with those in power. He becomes the most court-martialed officer is US Army history. And the most vindicated.

From Iraq and Afghanistan to Washington, DC, Matrix fights fire with fire, conquering his enemies with sarcasm, ridicule, shame, firepower, facts, and fists. Whether hammering politicians, slamming reporters, humiliating spoiled VIPs, or obliterating the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, or ISIS, Matrix is a force of nature.

Yet he is not alone. Green Beret, SGM Leroy Thomas Sr., a two-time Medal of Honor recipient, teaches and guides Matrix as he endures the burdens of command. Thomas becomes his mentor and friend, eventually becoming his family. These two men lead their Delta Squadrons from the front, succeeding where all others fail.

His career- and life-defining moment comes in Afghanistan. When on an executive protection detail, he does the unthinkable and kills an apparently unarmed man, setting off a deadly ambush in which he places himself between the erupting firestorm and the executive he is charged to protect: the president's only child, his daughter.