- Tom Egan: Another one of my jobs is damage assessment. Which is our way of saying counting the dead. Which is not as easy as it sounds. Beacause a lot of times the bodies are in so small pieces.
- Molly Egan: You look miles away.
- Tom Egan: 7000. You want to know about my job?
- Molly Egan: Yeah.
- Tom Egan: Well, yesterday, I was flying over a house in South Waziristan. Well, it was night when I started flying over their house, but they couldn't see me. Even if it was day. It was a house of a Taliban commander. He wasn't home. Inside, his wife and family were sleeping. When he did come back around dawn, the family was still inside but I wasn't sure when I'd get this chance again so I blew the house up anyway. And I watched as the neighbors started pulling the bodies out. Another one of my jobs is damage assessment... which is our way of saying counting the dead. Which is not as easy as it sounds because a lot of times the bodies are in such small pieces. But this time I knew for sure it was 7. I watched all morning as these locals cleaned up the mess; got ready for the funeral. They like to bury their dead within 24 hours, which is a happy coincidence for me, because that's how long I can stay in the air. I watched them carry the bodies up the hill to the grave site. I had information that the Taliban commander's brother would attend the funeral. So I waited until they were all there, saying their prayers... and then I blew them up too. That's my job.
- Molly Egan: You think I am having an affair? No I thought about it. I don't think you would be cheating. In order to cheat someone you ought to be in a relationship... and I don't know any more if we are in one.
- Tom Egan: I feel like a coward. Every day. Taking pot shots half a world away, sitting in an air-conditioned cubicle.
- Jack Johns: The folks from Virginia operate under a different set of ROEs. They've progressed from what they like to call a "personality strike", where we know for sure the target is a fucking bad guy, and have come up with something they call a "signature strike". And what that fucking means is it's a hit based not on a suspicion of guilt, but on a pattern of behavior. So you may be called upon to fire on any dumb schlub in Waziristan carrying an AK-47, even though we all know that everyone and their mother in Waziristan carries an AK-47.
- Langley: [over phone] The subject on the left... what is she doing?
- Vera Suarez: I believe she is picking an arm off the tree... Sir.
- Jack Johns: Last time I checked we were not at war with Yemen.
- Langley: [over phone] While we respect state sovereignty, Colonel, we're facing a sub-state adversary who abides by no rules. By necessity, this war on terror has become borderless.
- Jack Johns: What's the body count?
- Airman Roy Carlos: I count six, Sir. And good luck figuring out which bits go in which casket.
- Langley: [over phone] For reasons of security, all missions you carry out on our behalf effectively never occurred. You may refer to us simply as "Langley."
- [first lines]
- Tom Egan: Eyes on the Kahili objective. 19:30 hours. Entering surveillance hour four. No sign of target... Non-combatant approaching... Two non-combatants.