Alex is a Navy fighter pilot who recently completed a mission to bomb a building in Baghdad that was thought to be an insurgent safe house but later discovered to be a school; sixteen children died and there is now a price on his head. Additionally, while at his home base on leave, he exerted himself running so much that he had a heart attack and was clinically dead. Alex has chosen Paul as his therapist because he is "the best," but Alex is also testing him, being aggressive in conversation and attempting to control what they talk about and when.