What do we know about the Alpha people? They rarely wear a uniform. Awards are presented to them by closed decrees. They talk little about themselves, almost never give interviews and are never photographed in popular magazines. Who are these guys who have gone through the hell they call “business trip”? Through mortal combat, pain and blood, which they call “work”? They are rarely thanked in public. The title of Hero is more often awarded posthumously than during life. All the more valuable is this book about the fighters of the most “closed” Russian anti-terror unit, “Alpha”. Its author, Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Filatov, is one of them. Everything written in this book is the pure truth. Filatov writes as he lives: without hiding his thoughts and feelings. He fought the same way. There are no others in Group A.