Commander sarya. How are you comrade?
Comrade shamaran is missing in Isis territory.
She's vulnerable, she doesn't have a fucking choice
you are gonna get her for iyad
this is sphinx. They're looking for you everywhere.
Drop the gun. Look at the girl!
Kidnapped and sold as a slave.
You think I want this?
You're not a murderer you're not even Isis.
I want you to take the girl to a safe place.
Alright, get ready.
And here's something we don't see every day. A jihadist from Texas.
Come here, join us.
Jake, if you got mixed up in something, then I can help.
I'm not mixed up in anything.
I just miss you.
- I'll deliver the money man to them. - The money man?
He's American. I'll deliver him to you,
and you get me out of here in return, yeah?
The traitor is held accountable in this manner.
I have discussed your request with the other sheikhs.
Are you sure?
Yes.
You hold a position of status in the military council.
You will begin from scratch if you're transferred to the financial council.
They have their people, and you will be under their authority.
Okay.
I want to learn more from the islamic state.
May god give you strength.
Thank you, sheikh.
Come in.
Excuse me, sheikh.
Guys from the financial council are here to take you to the meeting.
Abu musab,
I'm abd al-rahman.
Okay.
Ypj is marching, earth and heavens tremble!
Thank you.
Sarya.
I'm coming
my source tells me that Isis are going to attack these 3 towns any day now.
Take this.
They are trying to isolate us, and keep us away from the Turkish border.
- How many soldiers? - I don't know yet. I'll know soon.
We can't defend all three locations. We don't have enough fighters.
I'm trying to obtain something that could help us.
Something the Mossad and the Americans need.
Then I'm sure they'll help.
I'm going to meet my source, maybe he can provide me with a high Isis target.
I'll send scouts to these locations
and come up with a plan to defend the villages.
We'll do our best.
Until you get us some help, we'll try to stay optimistic.
You need to find a uniform for the girl.
She's too young to stay here.
She's got instincts. With training she'll be fine.
Shamaran. She's not staying.
Where do you want her to go?
We'll send her back to a refugee camp. It's better for her there.
By herself? She's not going to survive.
You want her so much? You take care of her yourself.
That's what I thought.
Sarya, why did you come back?
What do you mean why?
This is my place. This my home. Not Paris. That's why.
We can win this battle.
The girl can stay but just for a day or two, okay?
This place is worse than a refugee camp. She won't survive here.
Stop saying that.
Look around you. You're asking me to defend three more villages,
but I'm not even sure we can hold this base.
And when it falls, qamishhi will be gone too.
Ellie!
Yeah. I mean, he is such a moron.
But you do know they don't like it
when we engage the kids on topics outside the curriculum.
God forbid we should have a real conversation in the classroom.
Yeah.
What?
What were you gonna say?
Nothing. Forget about it.
So, what are you gonna do?
Nope. C'mon, Ellie, what did you wanna talk about?
It's that... Osiris again.
- Isis. - Whatever. Ellie, give it up already.
You're like obsessed.
It's just you wouldn't believe what's going on over there. It's insane.
And I don't know why people aren't talking about it,
and how they can be talking about anything else.
Because people have their own shit to deal with?
Look, hon, I get it.
It's been a long time since you had fun.
It's not about that.
So you start thinking about Jake after all these years,
and it reminds you of the things you used to have.
And it reminds your body of the things it needs in the present.
So, I heard you're looking for a career change.
So, you're from the financial council?
I'm head of the committee.
Most of the foreigners immigrating here
aren't interested in getting involved in the administrative aspect.
They come here for other reasons.
You're a member of al-raqqah's jihad council.
That's a killer position.
Yeah... I've been fighting my whole life.
And now I wanna do something new.
I wanna build something.
So if you give me a chance, then...
You'll see for yourself.
Come take a walk with me.
- Salaud, shamaran. - It's pronounced "salut".
Where did you learn to speak French?
My mother, she was a teacher.
You spoke French at home?
She started teaching us when the war started.
So we could speak French
after we left here.
Leave? For France?
No. We have family in Belgium.
Where's your home?
- Aleppo. - Aleppo...
Your family's still there?
And where is your mother?
C'mon.
Last chance. C'mon.
This place may not look like much but it's actually very important to me.
You know what my council does? Where we get the money from?
Just the big picture.
Mostly oil, but also taxes, right?
Not taxes. Zakat. Charity.
Zakat, yeah.
You mean the merchants happen to volunteer to donate their money
for our cause, yeah?
Thank god.
No, no! It's a gift, a gift from me.
God bless you.
Thank you.
May god reward you well.
God bless you and the islamic state.
125 liras a piece. That's one fucking expensive apple.
Say I gave that man, 50 lira.
He doesn't have to do anything in return he just gets, 50 lira.
I give him a second option. Toss a coin.
If he guesses right, he gets a 100 lira.
If he guesses wrong, he gets nothing.
He doesn't get punished, he just don't make a profit.
What option do you think he'll take?
Islam forbids gambling.
It's just an example.
Which will he choose? 50 or coin toss?
Well, he'll take the 50, innit?
I'm sure you're right,
even though mathematically the expected value of both scenarios is identical.
Most people, they look at it psychologically.
People are risk haters.
They don't want the chance to win 100 lira, they want 50 now in their pocket,
especially in Syria after three years of war.
The more you have to gain,
the less chance you'll put yourself at risk.
Hang on, hang on, wait a minute.
Are you afraid of the merchants here in al-raqqah?
Because not one man here will put himself at risk when he's facing us.
You're talking about fear, but we got that already.
We need stability.
They need to feel their economic welfare depends on us.
That we could flood them with money if we wanted to.
So, 125 lira apple, brother abu-musab,
it's a mighty cheap price to pay to deliver that message.
Do you remember how to use it?
Don't aim at me. I don't want to die today.
Now try.
When we're in danger, when we're scared, we have two choices.
Fight or flight.
You can never freeze. Understand?
So imagine you decide to fight. What do you do?
You take a gun and shoot.
You kill before being killed.
You understand?
Flight is to run away. To hide.
To make sure your enemy can't kill you.
Now we'll play a game. You go and hide.
I'll count to 20, okay?
You hide, and stay hidden.
Under no circumstances do you come out of your hiding place.
Understand me?
Go on, run.
1, 2, 3
4, 5.
Nisrine. Come out for just a moment. I forgot to tell you something.
Nisrine, this is not part of the game. Come out.
Nisrine?
Nisrine, can you hear me?
Nisrine?
Come out.
Was this the first time you've ever heard a gunshot?
Why are you whining? You're not a baby.
You're gonna shoot now.
Aim there, at the rocks.
Hold it tight. Hands here.
Now pull the trigger.
That's good.
Not bad.
Again. Without screaming this time. It's not a circus.
Very good.
Go and hide again?
1, 2, 3...
Look, I apologize if earlier it sounded like I was being disrespectful.
You're the head of the council and.
I should have treated you accordingly.
My predecessor, he was a religious man,
very good with money. I learned a lot from him.
A few months ago, he tried to flee to Turkey
with 15 million dollars in cash.
After that, the sheikhs decided to give me the job.
- I didn't hear about that. - You weren't supposed to.
So what... Did they catch him?
It's important you understand.
We watch over the money with the greatest of care, brother abu-masab.
Yeah.
It's just...
You think that I'm thinking of stealing your money.
And I was starting to worry.
What exactly were you worried about?
Well, see, I thought that this whole interview
was because you think that I'm not smart enough for the job.
Because I don't know what "expected value" is.
I'm definitely not Ivy league.
I mean fuck, I got no formal education at all.
I never ran or managed nothing. I never even handled money.
But I want to do this.
I want to learn.
And if there's one thing, brother, that I can promise you,
it's that I'm not gonna steal money from the islamic state.
From my islamic state.
- Right on time. - Yeah.
Come.
Max? What are you doing here?
Rami, this is sarya dog an. Sarya, meet my photographer and fixer, rami Masoud.
- Max. What are you doing here? - Nice to meet you, sarya.
Max told me about you. I hope your injury has healed.
Rami, go take pictures of the base, please.
I'm here to finish my article.
- What article? - Sarya, we talked about it.
Yeah, the mysterious French volunteer, fighting alongside the ypj.
You came all the way here, just for this?
I was able to find out her name. Shamaran.
She's more than a volunteer.
Don't try to minimize it. She's a spy.
Her name is all over Isis forums.
She's on their most wanted list.
Yesterday, her name suddenly popped up everywhere.
This is your story?
I know you know her.
I know she arranged your evacuation to France when you were injured.
I just want to talk to her.
It will help your cause too.
My cause? Aren't you the one who told me we would never win?
That's not what I meant.
I'm sorry, I...
Don't apologize for being honest.
You were probably right too.
That's cool.
Here, let me show you something.
Check this out.
30 meters, man.
It's pretty accurate as well, you know?
Look.
Just joking.
I bought it from a dealer in deir ez-zur.
I know deir ez-zur pretty well.
They got 30 Wells there.
I could get you a hundred more, though. Without fighting.
It's not the number of Wells. The problem is logistics.
First distillation, then transportation.
Okay. Just tell me what you need.
Setting up mobile refineries.
I want to bring some engineers from Iraq, but.
I need someone to watch over them.
Once we increase productivity,
then we can create safe, efficient transportation routes.
I can do that.
I think you can too.
It's a job that entails experience in the field, and a capacity to be...
Aggressive?
Get shit done? Yeah, I'm your man, man. That's me.
I'm gong to Iraq on Thursday.
Come with me, and we'll talk to the engineers.
Yeah. What time are you going on Thursday?
Hey, hey, he's my friend.
Peace be upon you, brothers.
Bon appetit!
This is abu-iyad. We did our hijra together.
Peace be upon you, brother abu iyad. I'm abd al-rahman.
It's nice to meet you.
My kunya is in memory of a good friend of ours, iyad.
- May god have mercy on his soul. - Was he martyred?
Yeah.
Yeah, during the assassination of abu reda al-libi.
May god have mercy on his soul.
Yeah, nasser was there as well when it happened.
He was injured, and...
Yeah, but luckily Allah was looking over him that day.
You must be very proud of him.
Yeah, we're in the middle of something here, Paul.
He was the best of the three of us, wasn't he?
The three of us, we were childhood friends.
We grew up in the UK,
and it's because of them that I found islam.
Anyway, when did you convert?
I was born a Muslim, brother.
Abu iyad, abd El-rahman is the head of diwan al-rikaz.
I'm so sorry. I didn't realize that
I saw your skin color, I heard your accent,
and I just assumed that you were like me. My apologies.
Just saw nasser, I thought I'd come say hi, you know, we're old friends.
Anyway, it's just been nice to speak English, so...
- You homesick? - No, no, no.
This is my home.
But I will admit it's actually quite nice to speak English
with someone other than this guy.
We're all immigrants.
We've left everything behind to come over here. Everything.
It's a sacrifice, right? It means it needs to be hard.
If it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be a sacrifice.
Yeah.
Okay.
- Me and nasser need to talk business. - Yeah, sure.
Good to meet you, brother abu iyad.
I'm sure we'll see each other again soon.
- Funny guy. - Yeah.
Are you sure he's looking for me?
We met in Paris. He heard rumors about you.
What rumors?
I think he has contacts at the dsge or dsgi.
It took me a while to understand he was fishing for information about you.
You should have told me right away.
I thought he'd give up. I didn't expect him to show up here.
Sarya, he can't find out the truth.
We can't put my family at risk once again.
Same for my sources.
I know the stakes.
You should keep your distance.
He's going to qamishli tomorrow. We'll talk then.
You have to get rid of him.
He's stubborn, he'll be back.
I'll stay here tonight with the girl.
I'll be back tomorrow.
Okay. See you tomorrow.
Did she say anything about my mother?
What was her name? Your mother.
Abeer. Abeer dakka.
But around the neighborhood she was knows as umm ayman.
Because that's my big brother's name. Ayman.
How did you get separated from your mother?
My father and my big brother were killed on the eighth month, 2012.
We fled to a camp up north.
There was a mokawel there, a contractor.
Every day he took the women out to work.
To pick up vegetables.
One day,
Isis arrived.
They paid the mokawel.
They took all the women. And... And my mom too...
They took them to an Isis camp.
From that day on,
I haven't seen my mother again.
I will convince sarya to take you.
The ypg will protect you.
Okay?
They will free my mother and the other women?
It's not that simple.
You need to understand something, I know it's hard. But
I'll find her.
Do you have a family?
You miss them?
Don't worry. You'll find them too.
With god's will.
Okay, brother abu-musab.
- Thank you for everything man. - See you on Thursday.
- Yeah, Thursday it is, yeah? - Cool.
- Safe travels. - Thank you.
What the fuck was that?
You are still working for her, and he is your new target.
For fuck's sake. The sheikh suggested that I handle the oil because...
How fucking stupid do you think I am, nasser?!
Look,
you're just gonna have to trust me. Okay?
40 meters, man. It's pretty accurate as well, you know?
- Hello? - Winter. I have what you asked for.
Tomorrow morning at the meeting place. Okay?
Okay.
God.
My god.
So it's true?
- You're there? - It's not what you think.
Jake, you have to come back before it's too late.
This is where I belong.
Well, then you gotta explain it to me, because from what I've seen,
it looks like actual madness, like hell.
Don't be naive, Ellie.
They're lying to you,
twisting the truth. You know how it is.
Showing you a false narrative.
I wish I could show you.
- I'm gonna have to close now. - No.
Wait.
Hold on just a minute.
I miss you.
I didn't realize how much.
I wish you were here by my side right now.
Come home. There must be a way.
It's driving me crazy how beautiful you are.
I wanna touch you.
- Jake... - feel you.
Kiss you.
Jake...
Don't you?
More than anything in the world.
Since...
Tell me.
Since I saw your video,
and I heard your voice,
I just can't stop thinking about what we had.
And I miss you so much.
That beautiful mind of yours.
And your touch.
Your smell.
I wanna touch you
all over your body,
like I used to.
If anyone found out I was talking to you like this.
I wanna see you, Ellie.
No.
Ellie,
show me.
Stay here. I'll be right back.
I got the American on camera. He calls himself abd al-rahman.
I didn't get his real name yet,
but you should be able to identify him now, thanks to the photos.
He's a young guy mid-20s southern accent, maybe from Texas.
He's very smart. Dangerous.
So you took pictures on the first meeting.
That's careless.
Seriously? You're not happy?
- I'm happy. - Good.
So we have a deal then? What you promised me?
Yes, the Mossad is on board. If you get them the money man, you're out.
And that's a genuine promise, not Stanley's bullshit.
Will you be able to get me back to the UK?
No.
No, I'm sorry.
The Mossad will share the intel with the Americans,
and they will put you in a witness protection program.
A comfortable, safe life in the us.
He's going to Iraq next Thursday.
It's the perfect time to take him out, yeah?
- So I'll Mark his vehicle. - Well, hold on.
They don't want to kill him, not yet.
First, they want to know how the financial structure of the organization works.
They want to break them financially.
Alright, fine. So... Let's kidnap him.
We'll grab him alive, and he'll give up the whole mechanism, yeah?
- How? - Next Thursday.
I'll make sure to be with him in the car, with a tracking device,
so you know where we are at all times. You'll be ready to attack the convoy.
- No... - No, wait, wait.
We'll choose the right spot together.
When the American tries to run, I'll take out the bodyguards and I'll grab him...
- Nasser. - Wait! And I'll grab him.
And then I'll bring him to you alive,
and then you get me the fuck out of Syria together with him.
Two birds with one stone. Easy, yeah?
But it's too dangerous. You might get hurt.
Yeah, I know it's dangerous. Believe me, I fucking know it's dangerous.
I'm running out of time. Paul's gonna be onto me soon, this fucker!
I have to get out of here,
no matter what.
I'll bring up the idea.
Thanks.
The man with the beard,
who helped us.
- Yes? - His name is nasser?
- How do you know his name? - I listen.
You never repeat his name, understood?
- I know. - To nobody!
Promise me?
Take cover!
Nisrine... You need to get out.
Listen to me, you can't freeze, all right?
Either you fight, or you run.
But you don't stay here. You'll make it.
You're brave.
I'll count to three.
It's gonna be okay.
1, 2, 3.
Now.
Finish it.
Soon.
Paul!
Paul! No!
No!
Why?!
What have you done?! Why?
- You're free now. - No... what did you...
Why?
Commander sarya, it's nisrine.
They killed shamaran. Can you hear me?
Shamaran is dead. Can anyone hear me?
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