But they didn’t come. And with each minute that passed, the unease in Nir grew.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

Then it hit him. “Guys, they’re flanking us. Get to the vehicles now. It’s our only possibility of surprise.”

The whole team sprinted to where the transport truck had burned itself out. Yaron propped his arms on it, then quickly pulled them back. “Tembel,” he said.

Nir looked over to see why Yaron had just called himself an idiot, then saw him blowing on his forearms.

“Burned myself,” Yaron said.

“I guess someone had to do it.”

“Hey, boss, I’ll bet you falafel to fez that this jeep still runs,” Doron said.

Nir looked it over. It was a little scorched from the explosion, but it appeared to be in one piece, and the tires had air. The bright headlights let him know that the battery was still good. Looking in the front seat, he found keys dangling from the ignition.

“Excellent, but you drive like an old Talmudic rabbi. Dima, when we’re ready, I want you behind the wheel. The rest of you in the back seat.”

“Root.”

Gunfire erupted from the other side of the sheep pen as round after round hit right where they’d been taking cover. The screams of wounded and dying sheep cut through the din. The guns of the Kidon team, however, were pointed in the opposite direction, ready for anyone coming over the original rise. Twelve shadows suddenly appeared against the starry sky. The Israelis cut them down before they had a chance to fire their weapons.

“Okay, into the jeep,” Nir said.

The men piled in, and Dima turned the key. Remarkably, the jeep’s engine started. He hit the accelerator, and Nir could hear curses from the back seat as gravity heaped the men together.

“What direction, boss?” Dima asked.

“Away. Can you see without the headlights?”

“I can see enough.” The Russian reached down and the road ahead suddenly went dark.

The terrain was rough, and the men were jostled hard as they hung on to anything bolted down. Then suddenly, the ground disappeared from below them, and they dropped into a dry wadi. Dima managed to keep control and drive along the flat surface.

“We’ve got company behind us,” Imri said.

Nir turned around and in the distance saw the shadows of three jeeps angle into the wadi, followed by one truck, then a second. When the third truck took the embankment, it teetered to the right, then tipped over.

One down, Nir thought. They had a half-kilometer lead, but it was shrinking. It appeared that the IRGC drivers had more experience night driving in this type of terrain.