Code of Honor

For most of the book, we know Darius only through the information from the videos he’s presented in and Kamran's perception of him. Darius is Kamran's older brother and attended West Point, then joined the military as an Army Ranger. When the book begins, he is deployed in Afghanistan; however, a video turns up that reveals he has seemingly joined forces with al-Qaeda and defected. Though nearly every character in the book believes the video evidence that Darius has become a terrorist, due in part to his Persian background, Kamran remains certain of Darius’s innocence. This becomes more likely when Darius begins to send coded messages through his videos to Kamran, revealing the secrets of terrorist leader Haydar Ansari. Eventually, and despite the frequent uncertainty about Darius’s true convictions, he reveals himself to be a true hero when he and Kamran stop the bombing plot at the Super Bowl. 

Kamran's mother is from Iran and emigrated to avoid conflict in the region many decades before. She reads Persian stories to Darius and Kamran when they are children, inspiring them to embrace their cultural history. She worked at a horse ranch when her children were young, and often took her boys riding in the Arizona desert. She helps keep Kamran calm, and is a sweet and loving mother, if sensitive and prone to tears during the trouble with Darius.

Kamran's father is an assistant professor at Arizona State University. He doesn't have a large role in the story, beyond his plans to leave America with his family after Darius is considered a terrorist. He quickly gives up on his oldest son, which troubles Kamran and makes him feel even more alienated than he already does. 

Julia Gary is the girlfriend of Kamran Smith for the first few chapters of the book. She is an aspiring actress and deeply involved in theatre. Kamran loves her, but Julia breaks up with him after Darius’s videos are exposed.

Adam is Kamran’s long-time best friend. He remains loyal to Kamran even after Darius is considered a terrorist. Kamran feels devastated when Adam also questions Darius’s innocence. Adam checks in on Kamran periodically, but Kamran remains angry at him, and the two have a falling out early on in the book, though this seems largely repaired by the novel’s conclusion.

Jeremey Vacca is a bully in Kamran's class. He bullies some younger, nerdy students at homecoming. Kamran intervenes and Vacca calls Kamran a “towelhead,” revealing his bigoted perspective. He and Kamran get into a fight, and Vacca is punished.

Coach Reynolds appears in the early sections of the book and is referenced by Kamran later on, when Kamran needs a reminder to be resilient, and to focus on the task at hand. Coach Reynolds is supportive of Kamran and teaches him a number of lessons that are meant to help him on the football field and become relevant when Kamran is working in the field as a spy with Aaliyah, Jimmy, and Dane.

Agent Griggs is the first high-level Department of Homeland Security agent that Kamran and his family meet. She is relatively unfriendly, and blows off Kamran’s phone call when he first discovers Darius’s coded messages. 

Special Agent Tomaszewski is small, blond, and put-together. She interviews Kamran with Mickey Hagan and is his polar opposite: She is entirely by the book and treats Kamran like a criminal. She is an example of the kind of close-minded agent that Kamran is mistreated by over and over again in the novel.

Mickey Hagan interviews Kamran with Agent Tomaszewski. He appears to be in his fifties and has a light Irish accent. He later reveals in private conversations with Kamran that he is a CIA analyst from Northern Ireland, and that his brother was a radicalized terrorist who killed more than a dozen people in a bombing. Hagan resolves to help Kamran and becomes his only ally through much of the novel, as Kamran questions his own faith in his brother and is imprisoned in a government holding facility. Hagan organizes a team to rescue Darius, but halfway through the mission, Hagan’s intentions become suspect when the team is ambushed, and Kamran begins to believe that Hagan is a traitor. Hagan turns out to be a genuine ally, however, and is promoted after the bomb plot is taken care of. He remains an ally to Darius and Kamran even after the mission, and encourages Kamran to overcome his hardships, forgive, and be a better man. 

Haydar Ansari is a suspected terrorist who has frequently eluded capture by the US government. He began his life as a prominent businessman, but was radicalized when his family lost much of their power after the death of Saddam Hussein. He had a wife and a child and left them behind to lead an al-Qaeda splinter cell. Ansari was also known as "The Lion." Later in the novel, his wife, Bashira, reveals that he has been dead for three years, and she has been acting in his place since he was murdered by the US government in a drone strike. 

Jimmy is the tech guy on the team Kamran links up with. He is covered in tattoos and the most suspicious of the bunch; later, Kamran discovers that Jimmy is the traitor in the group and has revealed their location to Bashira Ansari. Jimmy was a former hacker who was caught by the Department of Defense and then hired as a contractor to boost government cybersecurity. He escapes with a suitcase full of money after the team is ambushed in the cave, and is never found.

Dane Redmond is a former Green Beret who is dishonorably discharged after he starts using drugs to cope with his PTSD symptoms. He starts to work for Hagan, who takes him in and gets him into a rehab. Dane is an honorable soldier, and the only member of the team to lose his life during the mission. He is shot in the head by Bashira Ansari while trying to protect Kamran. After his death, his dishonorable discharge is upgraded to a general discharge, giving his late ex-wife and daughter access to his military pension and benefits.

Sayid works with Hagan in intelligence, and has a background in international relations that focus specifically on the Middle East. She is an expert in counterterrorism and was raised in Lebanon, where she lived with wealthy parents. She is obsessed with boy bands, and unashamed of her love for American pop culture. She is also beautiful. She got into her line of work because after 9/11, others isolated and mistreated her due to Islamophobia.