Code of Honor

The elevator moves painfully slowly, reminding Kamran of the pace of a soccer game. Suddenly, the elevator stops. An Asian man gets in and nods at Kamran, who is internally panicking. The man asks how Kamran is, and Kamran takes too long to answer; he finally croaks out a reply, and then chastises himself for not being smoother. He apologizes, blaming the long night shift, and the man nods in sympathy: “And that was it. Enough, at least, to get him to stare at the elevator door again and forget all about me” (128). Kamran thinks about Julia and how he never truly appreciated the ability of an actor to pretend to be something they're not. As he reflects on this, the door opens again. 

More people pile onto the elevator. At first, Kamran is frustrated at the slow pace, and nervous that someone will recognize him. But as the elevator goes up, he begins to feel more at peace, realizing that he is more hidden in a crowd: “Safety in numbers, isn't that what they say?” (129). Finally, they reach the ground floor, and Kamran looks out into the lobby. It is not a typical office building lobby. There is a heavily-guarded front entrance with soldiers holding machine guns, and the only exit is through a turnstile activated by a government-issued ID card. Kamran realizes there is no way he is getting out of this building through the front door.

Kamran remains in the elevator, dejected. The doors begin to squeak shut when a woman sticks her hand in, calling for him to hold the elevator. The woman is stunningly beautiful: “She could have been on television. She had light brown Middle Eastern skin, dark hair and dark eyes, and full lips” (131). She jokes with Kamran that he missed the mail room; he is confused and flustered by her beauty. She repeats herself, revealing that the mail room is on Sublevel 4, where the mail trucks come to deliver goods. Kamran realizes his way out, and “felt like my own personal guardian angel was pointing me the right way” (132). The woman sees a man that she recognizes when the elevator doors open and leaves Kamran behind to find his new escape route.

In the mail room, conveyor belts and large sorting machines lead up to a series of garage doors. One of the doors is open; a group of men wheel dollies of goods onto the belts. Kamran realizes his only way out is through the open garage door; however, the door is guarded by two soldiers with German Shepherds trained to sniff out explosives and toxins. As soon as Kamran moves, the dogs notice him, though thankfully the soldiers and workers remain unaware. Kamran hides behind a sorting machine and makes a plan. He pulls out his gun, weighing his odds, but he knows he can't shoot anyone, not in good conscience: “These were real people. Real Americans, with jobs and families and lives. I had to get away, but I couldn't hurt anybody doing it” (134). Kamran catches sight of a fire extinguisher on the far side of the room. He remembers a video he watched with Adam of fire extinguishers releasing great clouds of thick smoke. He decides to shoot the extinguisher, distract the guards, and escape before they realize what’s happening. He takes aim, his heart pounding, and pulls the trigger.