Having escaped from
Central America with his comrades Drew Blakeley, Derek Godwin, Michel-Claude, Terry, and Richard,
mercenary Jamie Shannon gets an offer from Endean, a British businessman working for a tycoon. Endean's company is interested in "certain resources" in the small African nation of Zangaro, which is run by the brutal dictator, President Kimba. Shannon goes on a reconnaissance mission to Zangaro's capital of Clarence and meets British documentary film maker Alan North, who fills him in on the political situation in Zangaro. Shannon's activities arouse the suspicions of the police (especially a suspected dalliance with Gabrielle Dexter, a woman who turns out to be one of Kimba's mistresses), and he is arrested, severely beaten and imprisoned. His wounds are treated by Dr. Okoye, a physician and prisoner who was formerly a moderate political leader. North agitates for Shannon's release, and two days later he is deported. When Shannon tells Endean that there is no chance of a
coup, Endean offers him $100,000 to overthrow Kimba by invading Zangaro with a mercenary army. Endean's employer intends to install a
puppet government led by Colonel Bobi, Kimba's greedy former ally, allowing Endean's employer to exploit the country's newly discovered
platinum resources, an agreement guaranteed by Colonel Bobi. Shannon refuses the offer and instead proposes to his estranged girlfriend Jessie that they start a new life in the
Western U.S. When she refuses his proposal, he accepts Endean's contract on condition that he will have control of the military operation. Provided with a million dollars for expenses, Shannon contacts some of his associates from Central America and they meet in
London to plan the invasion. The group illegally procures a supply of
Uzi submachine guns, ammunition,
rocket launchers, mines, and other weapons from arms dealers. North encounters Shannon by chance in London and suspects him of being a
CIA agent. Shannon asks Drew to scare North away without hurting him, but North is killed by a hitman hired by Endean to follow Shannon and his crew. Drew captures the assassin, and when a furious Shannon learns that Endean had sent the hitman but that the hitman had killed North on his own initiative, he kills the assassin in turn and leaves the body at Endean's house during a dinner party held for Colonel Bobi. To transport the group and equipment to the coast of Zangaro, Shannon hires a small freighter and crew. At sea, the team is joined by a force of Zangaran exiles trained as soldiers by a former mercenary colleague. Once ashore in a night attack, the mercenaries and their troops use their array of weapons to attack the military garrison where Kimba lives. Drew bursts into a shack in the barracks' courtyard and finds only a young woman with a baby; when he turns to leave without harming them, she shoots him in the back with a pistol. After the mercenaries storm the burning, bullet-scarred ruins of the garrison, Shannon blasts his way into Kimba's mansion. There he finds Kimba stuffing packs of
bills into a briefcase; when a whimpering Kimba offers Shannon some of the money to spare his life, Shannon kills him. The following morning, Endean arrives by
helicopter with Colonel Bobi and they enter the presidential residence, where they find Shannon and Dr. Okoye awaiting their overdue arrival. Shannon introduces Dr. Okoye as Zangaro's new president, who tells Colonel Bobi that he is under arrest, and when Endean protests ("This whole country's bought and paid for!"), Shannon tells him, "You're going to have to buy it all over again," and silences him by shooting Bobi. Shannon, Derek, and Michel load Drew's body onto a
Land Rover, in line with the toast they drank on planning the operation "Everyone comes home". The film concludes with the mercenaries driving through the deserted streets of Clarence until they are out of frame. ==Cast==