Thou Shalt Not Kill. It is a commandment, perhaps the most important one. Thou Shalt Not Kill - but there is a caveat, an exception to the rule. In times of war, even your clergyman will slap you on the back, hand you a chocolate bar, and send you off to kill. Bill Russo's tale, The Death Squad, is the story of Private Shadow of the Union Army, who near the end of the U.S. Civil War is assigned to a firing squad which must kill 80 prisoners a day. Shadow dislikes the horrid duty and soon grows to dread it, and tries to find a way out.