Code of Honor

Kamran is held in a bolt-hole, the same one that he and Jimmy had been guarding. He is consumed by grief: both due to Dane's death and the betrayal he feels now that he knows Darius is a terrorist. Kamran feels more alone that the ever has: Aaliyah and Jimmy have been captured, and maybe killed, Darius has turned against him, and Dane is dead. His only hope is Hagan, who could very well be a traitor, too: “it was down to me. Me and our Code of Honor. My Code of Honor. Because whatever code Darius was living by now, it wasn’t the same as mine” (228).

There’s a light knock at the door. Darius sneaks inside. Kamran is enraged, and mocks his brother, then uses the skills Dane taught him to tear the pistol from Darius’s hands and turn it on his brother. Darius realizes quickly that Kamran is serious and tries to defend himself, but Kamran holds the gun to his brother's temple, sobbing, and puts his finger on the trigger. 

Darius continues to protest, explaining that he was captured in Afghanistan and realized that he could help reveal secret al-Qaeda plots if he stayed alive and pretended to be on the terrorists’ side. He tells Kamran that he only held a gun to his brother's head so nobody else would shoot him. Kamran is crying, confused about what he should and should not believe; he feels as if he’s on “a roller coaster—believing Darius, not believing him, believing him again” (232). Darius then reveals that Bashira Ansari paid off Jimmy and he left—Kamran pieces together that Jimmy could have been in constant communication with her via his laptop, and he was the only one not in danger during the raid at Kendall Food Services. Jimmy, it turns out, is the traitor, the rat.

Darius tells Kamran he’s came to break him out and to rescue Aaliyah, who is also being held in the cave. Darius makes a plan to go to the authorities, and finally gives up and backs out, threatening to leave his brother behind when Kamran shouts “No!” and pulls the trigger.

Behind Darius, a terrorist falls down dead. Darius is shocked, convinced Kamran was going to shoot him. Kamran realizes he never could have killed his own brother; Darius would always be his Achilles heel, whether he were a traitor or not. Darius takes Kamran down a hallway, telling him to keep his feelings inside until they are safe and he can process the life he just took. Kamran thinks that he “hadn't known what it would feel like to be responsible for another man's death. It left [him] hollow and cold inside, like [he’d] died a little too” (234). Darius and Kamran run down the hall; Darius opens the bolt-hole. Aaliyah is inside, bound and gagged, and flashes them a look. The brothers turn to see the Black Widow and a gang of five men pointing rifles at them.

Darius insists to Kamran that he isn't a traitor as the guards take away their guns. Bashira confirms this, revealing her plan as Darius tries to fight his way out of the cell and the guards threaten him. Bashira knew Darius was faking all along, and has fed him lies to communicate to Kamran in order to convince the government that any threat had been neutralized. This would leave them open for the real attack, which Darius and Kamran would then be blamed for: “an angry nation will have to have someone to blame. Why not two young Iranian brothers?” (237). The men come forward to grab Darius and Kamran, and then a rifle butt hits Kamran in the skull and everything goes black.