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Where The Tail Leads

Following a van, at night, through unfamiliar streets is difficult in any city. Add the elements of checkpoints, nervous men with rifles, and the traditional propensity to treating traffic laws as mere suggestions, and you can imagine the difficulties I had keeping the van in view.

Eventually the van turned left into a courtyard next to the Al-Taqiy mosque. As I pulled by I saw a man with an AK-47 locking the gate behind. I found a place to park where I could watch and saw that men, singly and in groups of two or three were entering the building. Something was going on.

I exited the car and considered my chances of making it inside. A man who looks like a westerner, dressed in western clothes would be bound to raise suspicions. A voice in Arabic reached out to me from the shadows.

You didn’t need a degree in languages to realize the man coming out of the shadows wasn’t looking for a simple hand out. The knife in his hand said as much. “Give me your wallet” never sounds pleasant whatever the language.

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