The Final Assault on the DusitD2 Hotel, Told by the SAS Operator Who Led It (Part 3 of 3)

Just after first light they heard the terrorists praying for the first time all night. Christian Craighead told the Kenyans to get ready, then started singing the Hail Mary. On "amen," four grenades came down the stairs.

Part 3 of 3 — the finale. The seventh-floor standoff through the night: the iPhone charger, the fire alarm that ran for fifteen hours, the minibars. Then Iraq, 2003 — three men walking into an armoured division with no air support, the whisper behind the berm, a black dog on a knoll at dusk, and the night he took communion from the brigade Padre in a factory near the Garden of Eden. Then back to the hotel for the final assault, the kitchen with every stove left on, the basement in ankle-deep hot water and total darkness, and the last two.

It ends with a speech to the Kenyan officers, a list of missing names, and a cup of tea.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold open — the black dog

0:39 Part 3

1:41 How did they have that many grenades?

3:36 "Are you American?" — the US mentors ordered out

4:44 "What's your plan?" "Wait for them to come down and kill them."

6:06 Four terrorists, two injured, no hostages — no longer a rescue

7:17 Grenades "for the love of the game"

7:36 1:30 a.m. — the iPhone charger