Code of Honor

Kamran watches the first video, which was played pretty much in its entirety on the news. In the second video, however, where Darius is talking into the camera about the goals of al-Qaeda and attacks on innocent Muslims, Darius says something strange: “Like Rostam in the cave of the Sith Lord, we will emerge triumphant” (44). Kamran stops and replays this scene, shocked. Darius couldn't have meant Sith Lord, he thinks—only he would understand that reference. Back when they were kids, he and Darius had combined their love of Star Wars with their Rostam and Siyavash games. They had played a game where Rostam was brainwashed and forced to fight his friends. Kamran realizes this is a code, one that only he can understand: “Darius had been taken prisoner by the bad guys, and they were making him fight against his friends” (45). 

Kamran runs out into the hallway to tell his parents about the coded clue. His father and mother are both cleaning up the mess that the DHS has made. Neither seem willing to hear what Kamran has to say. They clearly think Darius meant what he said. Kamran persists, but his father tells him to drop it.

Kamran realizes that Agent Griggs from the Department of Homeland Security left her card, in case Darius got in touch with them. Kamran calls her, and she picks up quickly. He explains the code, but the longer he goes on the more, he realizes “how ridiculous it all sound[s]” (47). She clearly doesn't believe him, and tells him to call back if he gets any actual word from his brother. Kamran insists that “Darius isn't a traitor” (48), but by the time he gets it out, Agent Griggs has hung up.

Kamran stays home for the week from school, watching Darius’s videos obsessively. His parents stay home, too; they have no desire to go to work and hear the whispers from their friends and colleagues about what Darius has done. They pass the time shooing reporters from their doorstep.

Kamran’s father calls Kamran in for dinner. Kamran tries to avoid it, but his father insists, as there is family business to discuss. At the table, nobody eats. Kamran’s father then drops the news that he and Kamran’s mother have been talking about moving out of the country, to Canada or Mexico, and changing their names to avoid being associated with Darius. Kamran is enraged: “We can't just move to another country! We're Americans, no matter what Darius has done” (50).

Dinner is interrupted by the phone ringing. It's another reporter; Kamran’s father tells him not to call again. The phone rings again, and then Kamran’s mother's cell phone rings. The high volume of calls can only mean one thing, Kamran thinks: Darius has done something horrible again.

Kamran turns on the TV to discover that an American journalist has been beheaded by al-Qaeda while Darius looks on in the background. Kamran feels sick to his stomach. He continues to watch, though he can't hear anything over the incessant ringing of the phone: “I sat and watched the TV like a statue, unblinking. Like it was my duty to watch. Like I owed it to the journalist and all those soldiers and civilians who’d died in raids Darius had been a part of” (51).

The screen shifts to a photo of Darius, and then live footage of the front of the Smith home. Outside, a man with a bandana around his face is spray-painting their house. Kamran and his father run outside, but the man isn’t afraid of them. He continues, and Kamran and his father are forced to shut the doors, lock the windows, and close the blinds as journalists hop over the fence into their backyard, pushing closer and closer to the house: “It felt like we were under attack. Like all of America was going to break down our door” (53). Kamran then adds, “later that night, they did” (53).