“I thought my mom was some sort of brave explorer. Now I find out she was a fool.” Ally crushed her hands to her eyes. “A dangerous fool.”

“Don’t condemn her,” said Huda gently. “We’re all in danger here. Even you.”

“Me?” The girl looked up. “What are you talking about?”

Huda glanced over her shoulder.

“I know you’re a journalist. And someone told Rania that you’re American.”

Horror mushroomed in Ally’s eyes.

“Who said that?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Huda. “But it’s enough to land you in Abu Ghraib, or even on the executioner’s block. And if the mukhabarat find out, they’ll want to know why Rania and I didn’t tell them first. They’ll say we’re not patriots.” She glanced at the lonely headstone. “Maybe they’ll call us traitors.”

Ally turned a seasick green.

“I never wanted to cause trouble,” she said. “I’m such a fool, just like my mom.”

Tears began to slip from the corners of Ally’s eyes, reminding Huda of that river breaking its banks. Mustafa had been there too, when the sandbar gave way, and instantly he leaped in the water to save the young woman. But she panicked and clawed her way up his back, locked her arms around his neck, until the river dragged both of them down. The tips of the waves looked like teeth, swallowing them up. Eventually, Mustafa thrashed to the surface. Alone. He’d had to wrench the girl from his shoulders and release her to the river’s arms.

Guilt pushed the oxygen from Huda’s lungs. She wished that the Tigris would rise up and swallow her, take her down to its silent, silty depths, where there was no right or wrong, no lies or betrayal, no manipulation. She winced as Ally bent over the sandstone marker and tried to wipe the dirt from Yusra’s name.

“It’s my fault.” The words leaped from Huda’s mouth before there was time to think, like Mustafa plunging into that stream.

Ally straightened up. There was a peculiar look on her face, like she already knew what Huda was going to say.

“What do you mean?”

Huda eyed Yusra’s lonely grave, a traitor’s grave like her brothers’. She took a breath and forged on, praying it would wash the stain from her heart.

“You’re not to blame. And neither was your mom.” She took Ally’s hand in hers. “The informant would have drawn her close. Just like I did to you.”

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 25

Ally stomped along the river road, back toward Huda’s car, gravel crunching beneath her heels. Below her, the pontoon tugged at its moorings. Rania had left, and their table had been cleared. Ally lurched to a halt. Like tiny spiders, suspicions hatched in her mind.

“Is Rania working for them too?” She whirled toward Huda. “Is Rania an informant as well?”