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Leila remained remarkably calm. I was speechless at first, as the nature of the dangerous situation we were in dawned on me. I then asked for copies of the invoices and receipts, thinking that this would stop Rola from going through with it. To my astonishment, she already had copies ready for me.

Leila and I immediately returned to our office—without the money—to talk. After saying nothing for almost five minutes, Leila began sobbing uncontrollably at her desk while smoking a cigarette. I knew it was now up to me to find a solution.

I did not sleep for two days. When you are under intense pressure in an environment where nothing is certain, your mind endlessly runs through scenarios with seemingly logical conclusions—take the money in good faith, believe Mrs. Assad is monitoring MAWRED, carry out the work, and carefully document where it all goes. But what if Mrs. Assad doesn’t know about it? And when the mukhabarat comes knocking, wouldn’t Leila and I get blamed for embezzlement? Did the fact that Dunya was asking aggressively for details mean that she was working for the old guard? Or did she simply want to make Rola look bad in front of Mrs. Assad? Or was Rola trying to set me up? Last, but also important, given all the questions being raised, where was Mrs. Assad anyway? Wasn’t she the patron of this “NGO”?

At 2:30 AM on day two of the crisis, I suddenly sat up in bed with the answer at my fingertips. I ran to my laptop and started drafting a letter from Leila to Rola. After thanking Rola for her help over the past year, I worded the letter carefully, avoiding accusing either side of anything:

Registering a company in Syria is a complex process. I have received considerable help from —— andAndrew Tabler to structure my business according to my original business plan. Despite this effort, my company remains unregistered. I hope that the company’s incorporation papers can be submitted sometime next month….

I was happy to hear that you have approved the proposal you asked me to submit concerning the creation of a website called Women in Syria. I was also glad to hear the project’s funding had been approved.

Mr. —— has informed me that any money I receive prior to my company’s incorporation will be considered income under Syrian law and will be taxable at the top tax rate of 35 percent. Given the fact that my company is not yet established and that I have no way of receiving funds, we will only be able to carry out segments of the proposed Women in Syria website on an invoice basis following my company’s registration.

This solution suits the current status of my company as a fledgling business as well as MAWRED’s natural desire to make sure it gets the most from its funding. At the same time, I am confident that our involvement in the project will ensure the website is of top quality. With this then out of the way, I look forward to receiving from MAWRED an outline of what it feels is important to be included in the website. The proposal lists a number of general stages and estimated costs to carry out a major web portal on a topic important to Syria. Now it is time for us to work together and establish a clear and detailed plan and time frame to carry out this work.

Immediately after finishing the draft, I returned to bed and fell asleep. My plan seemed the perfect solution for an opaque situation. I had essentially worded it so that Leila said she was happy to help but was unable to receive the funds. Whatever work that was to be carried out would have to be detailed, and the transactions executed from MAWRED’s bank account. Finally, the letter implied that an NGO under Asma al-Assad’s patronage would, of course, only produce businesses that pay their taxes.

When I entered the office early the next morning, Leila was already sitting at her desk, her face showing the stress of many in Arab countries who fear the secret police and have little faith in justice. I showed her the letter and explained my plan. After studying the letter,