Once Azriel and Pinar parted ways, it was strange. Somehow he thought going in there alone would feel… different somehow. That wasn’t to say he couldn’t handle it, he has gone in and done tasks alone many times, but this… he was just unsure.<br/><br/>It would be a lie if Azriel said he was excited about heading into Syria. Nobody wanted to head into a war zone, especially willingly as he was. Deep down there was a part of him that was rather nervous about carrying out this task. This was going to be an extremely tough mission, he knew that when he first looked Oz and Zachariah in the eye, and he shared the same sentiments as his fellow Soldier. He wasn’t sure if he was going to make it out alive.<br/><br/>His training as a sniper allowed him to appear calm and relaxed as he followed the road into Syria. Or perhaps it was because he was use to seeing armed soldiers out and about wherever he went, whether there was a war going on or not. When he passed through the checkpoint into Syria, he played it safe and followed instructions. Pinar had been right, they did leave him alone, until he reached the second checkpoint, but he was still on edge. There was just something intimidating about an armed guard meticulously checking information.<br/><br/>Azriel had gotten through the traffic alright, so to speak. He let out a heavy breath and sank back into his seat a little further, the wheel gripped tightly. It has been awhile since he has felt this tense about going somewhere. According to the GPS on his phone, he still had at least two hours before he reached his destination. The phone rang as well, but he didn’t answer it. He was too busy focusing on the road, wanting to keep his wits about him, and made a mental note to get back to whoever had called.<br/><br/>Deciding it was best to choose a route that would avoid heading straight through Homs, he pulled over on the side of the road. He waited a few minutes, never once lowering his guard, in case someone decided to take advantage of him. Without his gun, he was a sitting duck here. Although, if he could reach it in time, there was the shovel –he was sure that would make a decent weapon.<br/><br/>“One… two… three…” he muttered to himself, lowering his gaze (though occasionally glancing over the Land Rover’s dashboard and in the rearview mirror) to the Galaxy smartphone. His heart was racing as he looked up possible routes. He needed to get to Damascus as soon as possible. More importantly, he needed his weapons as well. He got out of the vehicle when he found a possible route. He went to root through his things, moving the shovel somewhere he could reach it quickly, and pulled out the coordinates given to him, where his weapons would be buried, and then returned to the driver’s seat.<br/><br/>He also took that time to call back his contact.<br/><br/>“I… apologize for not answering your call earlier. I am still on the road. I was told there was a package for me, and I am on my way to retrieve it,” Azriel said once he got someone on the line. He did not miss a beat; his tone was casual as he spoke, nothing too out of the ordinary about it. Perhaps, he wondered, he sounded a little too laid back than he should be about this, but he wasn’t too concerned about that. “I will meet you near Mount Qasioun as soon as I have done so.”<br/><br/>He left it at that. He wanted to minimize interaction as much as possible until he actually met Farid face to face.<br/><br/>Enough time was spent lingering. He was on the road again in a matter of seconds, not wanting to stick around any longer. There was someone coming up behind him. It was just a pick-up truck, but looks were deceiving. There was a tarp covering the bed. Who knew what could be hidden under there, he sure as hell had no intensions of ever finding himself in a situation where he found out.<br/><br/>Azriel followed the coordinated toward the weapons cache, taking greater caution than he had before if that was even possible. His calm demeanor was slowly shattering the longer he was on the road, but this had to be done. No matter how risky it was. Azriel was a warrior, one of God’s warriors. As soon as he got there, he wasted no time searching for the correct spot, and digging. He was very curious to see what he would uncover. Thankfully, digging had only taken him a good twenty minutes or so, which had been less time than anticipated.<br/><br/>It was a Sako TRG-41, a gun that was manufactured in Finland if he recalled, complete with anything he needed in any given situation. The gun was very nice. Upon further inspection he confirmed that it looked like he was going to be using Lapua magnim rounds as well. This was not his usual but definitely something he has used before. At least he was somewhat familiar with his tools. That was always important in his line of work. There was also a can of pepper spray. Something he was sure was put there as a sort of ‘novelty’.<br/><br/>Azriel wasted no time covering the hole up and packing the cache into the back of the Land Rover (the pepper spray was stuffed into his pocket) and setting off to meet up with Farid. There was work to be done.<br/><br/>Along the way, however, he hit a roadblock. He couldn’t tell if they were rebel forces, ISIS, or who the hell, they all looked the same to him, but there were a few armed soldiers skulking about. It was a group of five men from what he could tell.  How the hell did they show up so quickly? Had digging taken him longer than he thought?<br/><br/>They seemed to be harassing three other people who had pulled off along the side of the road. One of which had been executed soon after he showed up. He was doing his best to remain calm, but his heart was pounding. There was a good chance that he could be next. This was not good, not good at all. But as soon as one of them started to approach him, he knew it was about to get worse.<br/><br/>He decided to take that moment and step on the gas. Without looking back, he continued along the way to the rendezvous point hoping that they would not follow him.