After a few more well-placed shouts spelling out the propaganda he wished to spread, Shahim began to walk about among the flood of men now fleeing the hail of bullets coursing through the base. Several men came clambering past him through the blackness, stumbling on rocks as they fled. They were completely unaware of Shahim’s presence in the night as they streamed away in fear. He looked at them running out of the night, analyzing their faces until he saw one that he recognized from his time in Pakistan. He grabbed the man and threw him to the floor, pinning the man down and covering his mouth to silence him.

Shahim whispered into the frantic man’s ear, “Silence, soldier, I am one of you. They are near.” The man under Shahim froze, “I heard some of them shouting to each other and I think they are Pakistani soldiers. Here, I killed one of them and managed to take his jacket. We must take it. We must take it back to the fighters in the Hindu Kush and tell them what has happened here.” Shahim grabbed the man and lifted him bodily to his feet, still holding him tight to stop him from running off or making a noise. But the man was paralyzed with fear and was not going to argue with this single voice of reason in the enraged night.

Shahim led him away, “Come, I will lead you to one of our jeeps. You will escape this attack and live to fight another day.”

Walking through the crags in the valley, Shahim led the man, navigating the darkness with ease. He guided the soldier to where two jeeps lay well covered with camouflage in the next valley, helping the man push one of the off-road vehicles onto the dirt track that led to the encampment. He signaled for the man to get in as the car started rolling down the track and leapt into the driver’s seat himself. He let the car roll at first, not starting the engine but relying on the steep slope of the road to get them started. The last thing he wanted was to draw fire from the melee tearing through the encampment and get his patsy killed.

“What are you doing?” whispered the other man, staring into the darkness ahead of them, “How can you see the road?”

But Shahim ignored him and went on. Shahim could see that the road leveled out ahead so he put the car into second gear and popped the clutch, allowing the car’s own momentum to jumpstart the engine. As soon as the pistons were firing, Shahim gunned the throttle and the car surged forward. He drove off at inhuman speed through the mountains, his charge holding on for dear life.