Code of Honor

Kamran and his mother share a stressful drive home in his mother's Suburban. Kamran's mother reveals that a video has been released of an attack on the US Embassy in Turkey. In the video, it looks like Darius is the one committing the attack.

Kamran is shocked, and doesn't believe what his mother says. He turns on the radio, hoping for news, but only gets racist talk radio, which his mother demands he turn off. Kamran begins to reflect on the day Darius left for West Point, when the family dropped him off and watched him take an oath. Kamran struggled with losing his brother, but realized as he watched him recite his pledge that “Darius was going to be a part of something much greater than himself […] an extension of everything Mom had taught us about being Persian” (17). Kamran asserts to his mother that his brother would never go back on an oath he made. They pull up to their driveway, which is full of camera crews.

Kamran and his mother go into the house, shooing away reporters and otherwise refusing to speak to them. Kamran is anxious, and feels his adrenaline pumping. Inside, his father is watching CNN on the television in the living room. The news anchor speaks about the attack, showing videos of the embassy. There is a shadowy figure who could be Darius, but his face is too blurry to tell. Kamran's father says it could be Darius, but that it could also be someone wearing Darius's uniform. Kamran and his family know that if someone is wearing Darius's uniform, Darius could be in serious danger.

The program is then interrupted by breaking news. A video of Darius speaking into a camera on behalf of al-Qaeda has surfaced. Darius is saying things that make no sense to Kamran. He says, “I now choose to lead […] innocent victims in the fight against American tyranny. Today's attack […] is merely the first of a series of planned attacks” (20). Kamran recalls a memory of his brother when they were watching a horror movie about aliens together, and Kamran closed his eyes. Darius told him to open them because the aliens were gone, and Kamran did, only to find that his brother had been lying. He feels a similar emotion watching this video of Darius. He knows, too, that his life “will never, ever be the same” (21). 

The narrative picks up again on Monday morning. Kamran is standing at the foot of the steps of his high school, dreading going inside. He hasn't felt like this since his first day of kindergarten, and reflects that school “was my turf. My kingdom” (24).

Over the weekend, more videos surfaced of Darius in various settings with al-Qaeda. Kamran questions this; Darius has never been religious, and he is a Shi'a Muslim, not a Sunni Muslim, by heritage. The kids who know what happened are all staring at Kamran; they feel like Darius is guilty, and Kamran is now “guilty by association” (23). Kamran reflects on the suspicious side glances of strangers in the mall when he went there with Adam. He knew they connected him with plane hijackers from the news: “These people had no idea I'd grown up in a suburb of Phoenix like any other American kid […] they feared me—hated me—just because my skin was brown” (23).

Kamran finally goes inside and the people in the hall part as he passes, staring at him. Adam has checked in periodically but mostly left him alone. Kamran hasn't heard from Julia all weekend. When Kamran sees Julia, he runs up to her and tries to kiss her, but she doesn't let him. She’s cold and standoffish; when Kamran questions her about it, she asks him for space and turns away. He demands more of an answer, and when she turns again, he sees fear in her eyes. Kamran is both devastated and confused by her fear. He tells Julia he loves her and runs into the bathroom, so the onlookers in the hallway won't see him cry. He stands over the sink, looking in the mirror, trying to see what Julia and everyone else seem to see in him—“the monster […] the terrorist” (25)—but can't.