Chapter 51

Jack checked the clock on the kitchen wall. Nouri had given the FBI thirty minutes for a callback from “the right person,”

a deadline that had long since passed. He was pacing like a caged tiger as Jack and Zahra watched from their barstools at

the counter.

“They think I’m bluffing,” said Nouri.

“Please sit,” said Zahra.

“I’m not bluffing. I’ll release this video. They’re playing with fire.”

“Nouri, please. You’re making me nervous. Sit down.”

Nouri stopped and shot a look of reproval. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

The tone made Zahra shrink. Nouri resumed pacing.

Jack could see a transformation in Nouri. It plainly annoyed him that the FBI was dragging its feet. More than that, it seemed

Nouri was still stewing over the way Zahra had insisted on contacting Farid, even though Nouri had things “under control.”

Jack, too, had found Zahra’s behavior odd—and revealing.

As Jack saw it, there was the one triangle of Ava/Zahra/Farid, and a second of Nouri/Zahra/Farid. The common leg was Zahra

and Farid, about which Jack was certain of only one thing: Zahra had never been straight with him. It seemed that Nouri, too,

was fed up with the lies. Jack didn’t know why the FBI had let Nouri’s deadline pass without a response, but if the bureau

no longer saw negotiation as the solution to this standoff, it was time for Jack to take matters into his own hands. He had

to convince Nouri that Zahra’s fight was no longer worth fighting. The truth about Zahra and Farid was Jack’s only point of

leverage.

“Do you feel used, Nouri?” Jack asked.

He stopped pacing. “By your government, yes. I was used in the worst way.”

“I was talking about something different,” said Jack, his gaze drifting in Zahra’s direction.

“Are you accusing me of using Nouri?” she asked with indignation.

Too much indignation , thought Jack.

“It was your idea to tell Farid that Ava was sleeping with Nouri,” said Jack. “I’m surprised Nouri would let himself be used

in that way.”

“The idea was to get Farid to drop his lawsuit,” said Zahra. “How many times do we have to tell you that?”

“Oh, right,” said Jack, his voice laden with skepticism. “He would be too proud to go through the court system if it meant

making it public that his wife cheated on him.”

Nouri said, “If you knew Farid, you would understand it was a good plan.”

Jack dropped the sarcasm, his expression very serious. “Except that Zahra had a very different goal,” he said, and then looked

again at Zahra. “Didn’t you?”

She seemed to sense where Jack’s questioning was headed. “Don’t you dare go down this road.”

“I’ve been thinking about this ever since you called your sister an ‘evil woman,’” Jack said, and then he looked at Nouri.

“Do you think Ava was evil, Nouri?”

“Of course not.”

Zahra started to backpedal. “I didn’t mean she was an evil person. I meant—all I meant is that she could do evil things.”

“Which is why you sent Nouri to lie about an affair—to show Farid that Ava could do evil things, even if it was a lie.”

“So that Farid would drop his lawsuit.”

“No. You used Nouri to convince Farid that Ava was unworthy of him as a wife.”

“That’s crazy,” said Zahra. “I would gain nothing by that.”

“On the contrary, you would gain everything you wanted,” Jack said, and then he spoke directly to Nouri. “The point she used you to make, Nouri, is that Farid made a terrible mistake when he rejected Zahra and married Ava instead.”

“That’s laughable,” said Zahra, adding a nervous chuckle.

Nouri wasn’t laughing, and Jack could tell that the seed was planted in his head. He pushed forward with his theory, linking

one detail to the next in machine-gun fashion, cross-examining his own client.

“You didn’t stop dating as teenagers because Farid had a temper and you broke up with him. In fact, it wasn’t your decision at all, was it, Zahra?”

She was silent, though it seemed she wished she could deny it.

“Things ended between you and Farid because Ava did an evil thing, as you call it. Ava stole Farid from you.”

“What? I dumped him .” Zahra laughed nervously again.

“Ava stole Farid, and you’ve never forgiven her. That’s why you called her evil.”

“That’s a terrible thing to say.”

“Ava was never unfaithful to her husband. Ava and Farid had the perfect marriage and the perfect child—which only made you

more jealous.”

“ Jealous? Ha!”

“When Ava was gone, you didn’t marry Farid just to escape with Yasmin. Being married to Farid was what you wanted all along.”

“That’s a lie!”

“The fact that the marriage was never consummated was not for lack of desire on your part. Farid never stopped loving Ava—which

must have pushed you over the edge.”

“Don’t believe him, Nouri!”

“Far enough over the edge to make you want to hurt Farid in the worst way possible—by taking his daughter.”

“Stop it!”

“And when he found you and filed the Hague case to get Yasmin back, you answered with the worst trope in the Islamophobic

book: the angry Muslim man who beats his wife and child.”

Zahra appealed to Nouri, her eyes welling with tears, but said nothing.

Nouri took a step toward her. “Is this true, Zahra?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters!” he shouted.

“Farid doesn’t want to be happy!” Zahra shouted back. “He clings to the story that Ava could still be alive. He wants to spend the rest of his life searching for the wife he never stopped loving. He doesn’t deserve Yasmin. He doesn’t deserve me!”

Nouri’s anger was palpable, and all of it was directed toward Zahra.

“I came to this country to help you because I felt sorry for you, Zahra. I felt sorry for what happened to your sister. I

felt sorry because you made me think Farid was an abuser. You made me think he was an awful man who didn’t deserve his own

daughter. You made me believe you were in love with me .”

“I do love you, Nouri!”

“You used me, the same way the CIA used me!”

“That’s not true!”

“Quiet!” shouted Nouri, his voice nearly rattling the kitchen windows.

He was seething, and the room was silent, except for the sound of his breathing. He took the gun from his belt but didn’t

aim it at anyone.

Jack needed to rein him in and steer him in the right direction. “It’s time to give this up, Nouri.”

Nouri didn’t answer.

“Let’s call the FBI and tell them this is over.”

“You!” Nouri shouted, pointing at Zahra. “You’re on your own, Zahra. I’m not sticking my neck out another minute for you.”

“Let’s just stay calm and put away the gun,” said Jack.

Nouri looked at Jack, but he didn’t put the gun away. “You asked a question earlier, Jack. You asked me whose side I’m on.”

“Yes,” said Jack. “You said Zahra and Ava’s. Stay on Ava’s side. No matter how you might feel about Zahra right now, stay on Ava’s side and put the gun away.”

Nouri shook his head. “No. Now I’m on my side.”