“Surely the most important thing is to get your daughter to safety as soon as possible. So please understand, if you want, how should I say, express service, it costs more.”

“Huda pays nine hundred dollars, but I have to hand over three thousand? I was a loyal member of the opposition. Does that not count for anything?”

“From what you told me, Huda’s family made plenty of sacrifices for the cause.”

“But three thousand—”

“Look here,” Kareem cut her off. “Huda may be paying nine hundred for her son’s passport, but she won’t be getting it any time soon. Once she is no longer of use to us, we may supply her son with a passport, and even that is not certain. In fact, from what I hear, the boy may want to stay and join our fight. But if you want a passport for your daughter quickly, my dear Rania, you will have to pay.”

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 16

From a picnic bench on a covered pontoon, Ally watched an egret flap along the edge of the Tigris, its long, skinny legs trailing behind. The bird landed with a splash and began to stalk the rushes, beak slicing the water like a scythe. Above it, the sky stretched in every direction, huge and impossibly blue. No wonder her mom called it paradise.

Huda wiped a scrap of flatbread through the remains of a bowl of hummus. A platter of fish bones lay beside it, stripped clean during their lunch of roasted masgouf. She pushed a dish of plump olives toward Ally.

“Would you like something more to eat?”

“That was delicious.” Ally leaned back from the table and groaned. “But I’ll explode if I eat any more.”

Halfway up the pebbled bank, a waiter emerged from a mud-brick kitchen. He trudged past a crackling firepit, descended a zigzagging set of steps, and bounced across a gangplank connecting the pontoon to shore.

“Tom’s going to regret missing this masgouf,” said Ally, as the waiter collected their plates. “You know, I should move up north to Mosul. I’d probably see him more often.”

“We can come again when he returns,” said Huda. “He’ll be back soon.”

“Not for another four days.” Ally felt a twinge of jealousy. “After the election.”

Quickly, Huda pointed to a trio of jade-headed ducks paddling past the pontoon.

“Do you see the birds?”