Code of Honor

Kamran steadies himself for the attack by imagining this as the beginning of any football game: “[Wait] for a hole to open up to run through” (111). The door opens, and a burly, African-American guard walks in. He begins to tell Kamran he is being transferred, but before he can finish, Kamran whacks him in the face with the metal food tray. The soldier goes down immediately, knocked unconscious. The guard outside is startled by the sound and the fall, and comes rushing in, gun in hand. Kamran knocks the guard with the cell door so his gun falls out of his hands. The guard doesn't collapse, though, so Kamran hits him again and again until he is in a pile on the floor with the other soldier. Kamran looks down the hall to make sure the coast is clear, then grabs the guard's gun and leaves. 

Kamran runs down the hall; it takes a few moments before the alarm sounds, a “persistent, low beep” (113). Kamran sees dozens of other cell doors and wonders if his parents might be inside one of them. He keeps running, only to hear the sound of a guard's walkie-talkie. He ducks into a small break room and looks for a place to hide. Not finding much, he begins to panic, and wonders whether he is really capable of using the stolen gun, which feels “[h]eavier than [he] thought a gun would weigh [...] too heavy” (114).

Kamran then remembers Adam accidentally setting the microwave on fire when he put a can of soup inside it at a birthday party, many years before. Kamran grabs a can from the fridge, as well as dozens of spoons and forks, and lets the microwave go. It sparks, and distracts the guard when he comes in to search the room. Sprinklers go off, and Kamran makes a run for it as the guard reaches for a fire extinguisher. He finally finds an exit door, and runs through, only to find himself in a stairway, on Sublevel 22. Kamran is twenty-two stories underground. 

Kamran is huffing and puffing by Sublevel 17 and knows the guards are likely to catch up to him soon. A door bangs open, and Kamran can hear boots on the steps. He can't tell if they are coming from above or below him, but either way it seems likely he'll be caught if he doesn't get out of the stairwell. Kamran stops at Level 14 and tries to open a door. It's locked, with a keypad beside it. Every door has these keypads. Kamran curses. He tries five or six codes, all of which fail. Kamran then remembers the gun in his pocket. He aims, and prepares the shoot the keypad, when “the door made a chunking sound, and the keypad blinked green” (118). The door opens and Kamran ducks inside. 

Kamran finds himself inside a typical-looking office building; on this floor, there are no cells, just cubicles, an elevator, and a mail cart. He ducks inside one of the empty cubicles and takes a moment to breathe. No alarm sounds. Kamran has the sudden, sinking realization that the people in these cubicles might have no idea that there are cells on the lower floors, with people being involuntarily held inside: “Maybe the people on this floor didn't know there was a prisoner loose. Maybe the people on this floor didn't know there were prisoners in the building at all” (119). Kamran hears the guards run by and realizes that because the door opened automatically, they have no idea where to find him. He sees an elevator and realizes that it is his only hope for escape. He makes a plan to disguise himself as a mail delivery boy, finding a mail-boy badge and the empty cart in the cubicle where he is hiding under a desk. He puts on the badge, hides his gun in the envelopes, and starts to push the cart toward the elevator doors.

Kamran begins to walk toward the elevators. He wants to run, but knows he has to play it cool to make his disguise work. The mail cart is squeaky, and Kamran feels like it's blowing his cover: “It was like a bullhorn announcing my presence. ‘Here I am! Kamran Smith! Escaped fugitive!’” (122). Despite his anxiety, none of the workers look his way. He keeps moving, peering into some of the offices. He’s pretty sure it’s nighttime, but a lot of people are working, and Kamran wonders if they work in shifts, like a factory. Just as Kamran is about to hit the elevator, a man calls his name. Kamran ignores him, hoping he is talking to someone else, but the man persists. Kamran feels a hand grab his shoulder and turn him around. His cover is blown.