Manny Ramirez's time as a Top Gun jet pilot in the US Navy was one of deep personal conflict.

He had pledged his sensai Bruno that he would never kill again, but his country desperately needed his singular skills in the "cock"-pit to succeed in the viscous fight over the much-feared Grenadian air force (known in aviation circles as the "Perilous Peregrines"). Which side of his bifurcated nature - killer or healer, lone wolf or patriot, man or man-thing - would win out?

Manny shot down twenty enemy aircraft in Grenada, destroying millions of dollars of Iran-funded Grenadian military equipment. Yet miraculously, ever single Grenadian crew member aboard those twenty planes survived their meeting with the "Dread Baron" (as they referred to him with dread and awe). One engineer was even snatched plummeting from the sky by grabbing onto the wing of Manny's F-97 Hawk-Cat as Manny dove to match the falling man's deadly speed. Manny pulled up carefully and the Grenadian engineer was lightly deposited atop a swaying palm tree on a then unnamed beach locals now know as "Slugger's Cove".