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He climbed up a wall and pulled down three kaftans, none that would really fit Jase, but he’d just have to deal. He climbed up farther until he hit the roof, then pulled on the kaftan and the hat. Taqiyah? He wasn’t really sure if that was what they were called.

From the four-story elevation, he had a better shot of finding some sort of vehicle. Using his night vision binoculars, he found three potential targets. He looked down and Jase gave him the all-clear signal, so he climbed back down and handed Jase his kaftan.

“You know this won’t fit, right?”

“The other one is smaller.” Linc grinned.

Jase left most of his gear on, but took off his rifle so that he could wear it outside of his kaftan. “I look like a sausage.”

“Yep,” Linc nodded. “Now, I’ve scoped out three possibilities. One actually looks like it can go faster than seven kilometers an hour.”

“Let’s get going.”

Linc led the way. They avoided the small main street, instead sticking to the back alleys.

Linc held up his fist as he saw a red door on one of the stone walls begin to open. An old woman stepped out and picked up a pail that had been beside the door, then went back inside. They continued on.

When they got to the truck, they found a problem. It was parked in the middle of a chicken coop. If they went in there to get it, they’d stir up the chickens and the household would come running.

“An unusual parking spot,” Jase whispered.

“Cars are so valued in Syria that they will them to their children. They’re going to protect them.”

“Now you tell me. Why didn’t we take the OKA?”

“Busted engine block?” Linc reminded him.

Linc tilted his head and Jase followed him as they melted down another alley. The next closest was a bright yellow taxi, an old Peugeot. When they got there, they found another problem. Two dogs were tied to the bumper.

“I guess car theft is common, huh?” Jase asked.

Linc shrugged.

They moved onto the last possible car that Linc had scoped out.

“My God, man, it’s a fucking boat, not a car. What is it? A Buick from the fifties?” Jase whispered.

Linc pulled out his binoculars. “It’s a Buick Riviera, and I have no idea when it was built. But you’re right, it is a boat. It’ll house a whole hell of a lot more people than that small little Nissan.”

“This is going to be a problem,” Jase said.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

They both looked at the four men sitting on overturned crates at a small table. They were playing cards. There was a kerosene lantern lighting up the table. All four of the men were armed. Like Linc and Jase, they had their automatic rifles strapped across their chests over their kaftans.

One of them threw down his cards and cackled. The obvious winner. Everybody threw in their cards, and one man gathered them and started shuffling.

Linc looked at his watch. They’d left Gideon an hour and ten minutes ago. They needed to get a move on. They needed a distraction, one that would preferably not cause loss of life. He looked over at Jase.

“I’ve got C-4,” Jase said. “That’ll distract them. Any ideas on how to deploy?”

Linc looked around. They were in the old part of the city that had taken many of the hits during the occupation by ISIS. Some buildings looked like empty shells, but he knew that could be deceiving. People could still use the buildings as shelter, especially as the nights were getting colder.

“Let’s go look around.”

As a sniper, Linc was used to shimmying up walls and buildings to get into the best positions to take a shot. A block away from the men playing cards, he found a fairly tall building to climb up to consider distraction options.

Half a block away, he saw an oil drum with simmering embers. Obviously, it was used for heat. It would be perfect. It was set against rubble that had once been some sort of building. The problem was, it was out in the open and no good way to approach without being seen, but that was Jase’s specialty. Linc didn’t know how such a big man could go unseen, but he’d watched in awe as he’d managed it, time and time again.