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jacket. “Thank you,” Russ said.
                  “Anything to help you fight for freedom,” the old man replied as he backed away, slightly bowing. Russ gave a half nod and started to walk back to his Hummer. Then heard the old man shout behind him, “By the way, my son, he lives in America. In New York City. You should look him up when you get back.”
    Russ turned, “Yeah? What’s he doing in New York?”
    “Ahh, the family business,” the old man shuffled forward again and produced a crisp business card that looked completely out of place in this place, with these people and in this conversation. Russ read “Eric Crawford, CEO Crawford Imports.”
    “Eric Crawford, not the name I would have expected.”
    “He also will not look as you expect him, like I look. But you know as well as I do, you adapt to your surroundings, fitting in where you need to and standing out where you need to. His name is not where he needs to stand out.”
    “Fair enough.”
    “Seriously, you should say hello. No one knows who will need a favor from who, networks are important in all lines of work.” With that the old man drifted back again.
    Russ watched for a moment, then turned to head back to his vehicle again. He glanced at the card and thought about dropping it in the sand but thought the old man might see it and be offended, so he stuffed it into his breast pocket. He heard a chorus of doors close then grabbed the handle to the rear of his truck and climbed in. Mario did his best to turn, though with the tight confines and heavy equipment it was difficult.
                  “So did we get what we came for?” Mario asked.
                  “I think so. I hope so. It’s an address and GPS coordinates in Zaranj, a bit west of here. The old man said the house would look like just another apartment building. That means we need to check it out to make sure the intel is accurate and if we have to fight, it will be urban and close quarters.”
                  “Great,” Mario said and shifted back forward, looking out the window with a thousand yard stay, “Just once, I’d like a stand up fight.”
                  “Wouldn’t we all,” Russ agreed. Without another word, Mario fired up the Hummer and pointed the nose toward the setting sun. Russ put his glasses back on, closed his eyes and tried to rest. He had a feeling he’d need it.
                 
    “So what’s the plan boss?” Mario asked. It had taken them about thirty minutes to get to Zaranj. During that time Russ had been able to doze off in short spells and the few minutes of sleep seemed to make him more tired. He yawned and shook his head trying to clear the cobwebs.
                  “Park outside the town for now, we need to figure out our course of action.” Mario pulled the Hummer to a stop about a kilometer out of the town. The other two Hummers pulled in forming a rough triangle. Russ exited to the center, the other vehicle commanders did the same. “Ok, so here is the deal, we have information that says Ajmal is holding up in an apartment building in Zaranj. We don’t know how reliable it is,” Russ looked at the other two commanders, “So usually we’d recon the place, make sure Ajmal is holding up there, then snatch him. The problem is though, we’ll stand out in Zaranj. If Ajmal is there, he’ll know we’re there before we get a hundred yards into the city. At that point he’ll rabbit or hole up and not show his face.”
                  “So what do we do?” asked Doug Buntz, one of the other Hummer commanders. Dave was a lean framed boy with a strong jaw line from Virginia. He didn’t say much but was terrific in a firefight.
                 
                  “Well, if recon is out then that leaves attacking a stronghold we know nothing about or trying to lay siege to the location and out wait him. I don’t like