“Not bad, but a terrible accent,” Adira said. “Though the primary language is Mesopotamian Arabic, most other dialects are spoken and understood. For you, Sam, I can hear a touch of American, so speak only if in an emergency. I suggest each of you accompany one of us. Team one, Alex with me. Team two, Sam and Moshe.” She turned and grinned. “And Eli gets Casey Franks all to himself, as team three.”

Eli Livnet’s eyes went to Casey, and hers to his. She seemed to snarl, and he looked away slowly, clearly not impressed with his choice.

“We’ll do all the talking,” Adira said. “But hopefully we can avoid anyone else.” She looked at a wristwatch and then opened another plastic bag full of clothing. She sighed. “And a niqab for me.” She holstered weapons and knives, and then pulled on layer after layer, the clothing even covering her face, leaving just a slit for her eyes.

“Stifling.” She adjusted the heavy cloth, and pointed again at the map. “Alex and I will take this route – Jalba, the direct one, and leave first. Five minutes later, team two will enter through Al Jaddid Road, this route. And then in another five minutes, team three will walk east toward Yarmuk, here. These are fairly small thoroughfares and unlikely to be guarded.” She looked up. “But they’ll be watched by a dozen eyes; hopefully none of them Hezar-Jihadi.”

“Good.” Alex, Sam and Casey pulled on the thawbs. The loose fabric concealed most things, but not that each of them was oversized.

Adira looked at them and then shook her head. “Shizza. Both of you bend forward slightly. The only ones to stand so cockily upright are the fighters. Everyone else should be bent, humble, and permanently living in fear.”

The HAWCs rounded their shoulders and hung their heads.

“Better,” she said. “We meet back here at 1200 hours. That will give us plenty of time to observe from many different perspectives. There are numerous coffee shops still open – better to be seated in one, than to be loitering.” She looked at each of their faces, her eyes narrowing behind the niqab. “If you hear gunfire, screams, anything, you ignore it; it is a common thing here. You will see things that will frustrate you and horrify you, things that will demand your intervention, but do not engage. We have a priority mission, and that is not to spend our time rescuing individuals.” She waited. “Got it?”

“Got it,” Alex said.