Zaief accuses Elsa and other foreigners of coming uninvited to his country and of making his people crazy. He sends film material of Salemani's gruesome death to the West, where it eventually reaches the French government. A French special forces team gets entrusted with Elsa's rescue. They find Zaief's hideout in Pakistan. Although they realize that they are actually to few men to get the job done, they still go for it after they've noticed the execution of Maina. When they leave the place with Elsa and Amen, a bullet hits their wireless set. Without means to contact their base they cannot manage to be found and picked up.
In lack of any other solution they are heading for the Khyber Pass in order to reach their base in Afghanistan on foot. In the mountains they have another shooting with Zaief's gunmen. Since they stand on higher grounds, are clad in top-notch body armour and have high-end guns with laser designators and high capacity magazines the hand-picked commandos are able to withstand the attackers who approach densely packed and have only old AK-47s. While Kovax fights with his men Zaief hides and just kills his followers if they dare to question his orders.
When the fugitives come across a village Elsa asks for hospitality. She and her attendants are heartily welcomed. As they learn all children of this village have been taken away by a local warlord who was in demand of child soldiers. While they enjoy themselves with the locals, Marius (Alain Alivon) is suddenly killed by a sniper. The team's own marksman Elias (Raphaël Personnaz) can take care of the shootist but loses his nerve. Later on Zaief's gunmen arrive and Zaief himself kills Amen. The soldiers try to save the villagers but this time their weaponry doesn't suffice. When Victor is hit, they retreat. Elias decides to back them up and to rather die fighting than to accompany them into the mountains. Victor comes with Kovax, Lucas and Elsa. Soon he suffers with ague and little later he dies,experiencing the fate of many unknown heroic soldiers who had an unseen painful death after their last battle.
Lucas (Denis Menochet) is now so dismayed he doesn't see any sense in continuing. But Kovax knows that Lucas is about to become a father and telling him solves this issue. Yet Lucas is the next one who dies when Zaief and his men attack again. Kovax can kill Zaief but confronted by the death of his friend Lucas he has a breakdown.
Tic-Tac was also hit and has to be carried. They still have a long way ahead of themselves when they are surprised by a debris avalanche . Kovax can save Elsa and Tic-Tac but breaks a leg. The two men realize only Elsa can make it, provided she does it on her own. They persuade her to leave them behind. Kovax gives her a present he received at his last birthday, a compass that once saved French soldiers in Normandy.
Elsa, already obviously marked by severe exhaustion, scarcely reaches a road where she is found. Finally being rescued, Elsa refuses to return to Paris and has herself taken out of her wheelchair by Admiral Guezennec (Tchéky Karyo ) who carries her on his back to a plane. Together they find Kovax and Tic-Tac who have lived to see Elsa again.
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