“It’s all right.” Huda cut her off.

Disbelief dragged at Rania’s jaw.

“I will need some time,” said Huda. “But I will get your money. I have the papers and photos with me, and I have one hundred dollars too. I can bring the rest when I get the passport.”

“It doesn’t work that way.” Kareem rapped his knuckles against the desk. “First, we are not the ones who will handle your documents. We will let you know the procedures for that later. Second, you need to supply the money in advance.”

Huda sat up tall. She kept her eyes level with the men.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

Rania bit her lip. Huda had courage, that’s for sure. But then again, she always had.

“Likewise, we also need to know you can be trusted,” said Kareem. “You say you are an unwilling informant for the mukhabarat, but how can we be sure?”

The cleric shifted his eyes from the wall and trained them on Huda. When she blushed and looked away, his lips twitched with pleasure. The cleric whispered in Kareem’s ear, then sat back in his chair and rested his hands on his belly, like a man at the end of a feast.

“You will need to keep us updated of your instructions from the mukhabarat,” said Kareem. “And we will let you know what you should tell them in return. For a start, tell them that the Australian woman you’re monitoring has been behaving suspiciously. Tell them that you think she’s hiding something.”

“I don’t understand,” said Huda.

“You don’t need to understand,” he said. “But if you want a passport for your son, you’ll do what we say. For the moment, that’s all we have to offer you.”

Kareem ushered them toward the hall. Before they filed out, the cleric rose from the desk. He was taller than Rania expected, and his turban almost brushed against the damp ceiling.

“If we meet again,” the cleric’s voice creaked like the old door, “make sure you cover your hair like respectable women.”

* * *

Blinking in the sunlight, the two women stumbled down the steps of Khan Murjan and into the crowd of shoppers.

“I’ve done what you asked.” Rania tucked her bag under her arm. “There’s no need for us to meet again.”

For weeks, she’d been dreaming of the moment she could bid Huda goodbye. She was surprised when regret flicked in her chest like a fish swishing its tail.

“I suppose you’re right.” Huda’s big eyes were flat with exhaustion. She looked like her grandmother after she’d read too many coffee cups. The crowd pushed them deeper into the alley, toward a busy corner where the path divided into two. Huda veered left, Rania right.