If Adilah Really Is an ISIS Commander, Why Is Imogen Helping Her in ‘The Veil’? (SPOILERS)

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Episodes of FX's The Veil.

When it comes to finding out someone’s true identity, British M16 agent Imogen Salter (played by Elisabeth Moss) in The Veil is undoubtedly the woman for the job. She gets recruited to safely transport Adilah El Idrissi (played by Yumna Marwan) from one refugee camp to the next and unveil her true identity in the process. However, Imogen goes rogue and abruptly knocks her fellow agents off her trail. Apparently, it isn't the first time she’s gone off the grid.

With Adilah possibly covering up her true identity, which many believe to be the Djinn al Raqqa, an ISIS commander with a substantial amount of blood on her hands, why is Imogen putting her career and life in jeopardy to keep her alive?

Imogen believes Adilah is, in fact, Sabine al Cabas, aka the Djinn al Raqqa, a 15-year veteran ISIS commander — and she’s prepared to go to any length to prove it. In an attempt to live up to her reputation in the mission control business, Imogen has made it her duty to unveil Adilah’s identity, but she’ll need to keep her alive to do it.

While it’s unclear what deterred Imogen from the initial path she and the French DGSE laid out (perhaps she has her own secret agenda or is part of an unknown agency), she hasn’t abandoned the mission.

Even after the CIA confirmed to Malik Amar (played by Dali Benssalah) and his colleague that the young girl’s hair sample matched that of Adilah, “proving” Adilah is who she says she is, Imogen is still convinced she’s dealing with one of the most wanted women in the world. But, in order to uncover the truth, she decides to keep her enemy closer, even if it requires personal sacrifices.

Adilah could, in fact, be the high-ranking member of ISIS both the CIA and the DGSE are seeking out. And the string of events that play out after she appears to leave behind a clue in the library book she calls “the book of surprises,” which centers around devils and shapeshifters, has us convinced of this.

Adilah's hand-drawn map, once collected by a man with an agenda, leads him to the refugee camp, specifically the tent where Adilah was kept in isolation. There, he recovers the phone she had wrapped up and buried, making it available on his person (once he's shot and killed) for another suspicious man to make the call that initiates an ill-fated plan.

The recovery of the phone and the subsequent call set off a chain of events resulting in the loss of multiple lives, including those of the refugee camp director and the head of communications.

The initial phases of the plan entail a task to two men, who commit themselves to their faith. Their mission is to expose the core of a radiology machine and submerge it in water within a lead container.

Within three minutes of exposure to the core, both men die, illustrating just how lethal the materials can be should they end up in the wrong hands (and on a Bulgarian Navy ship headed to the U.S.).

However, despite Adilah's lack of communication with anyone but her daughter up until the point they are reunited, it's as if the people serving under her are still able to keep her updated on the progress of the plan. Did you forget about the random guy who appeared at the airport while Imogen and Adilah were playing chess or the "gentleman" who paid for her drink at the bar and passes her a note signed by E?

While Adilah thinks she has everyone fooled, particularly by portraying herself as a typical woman who has been separated from her daughter, she may have adopted the real Adilah’s identity and is using it to get closer to her next targets. Or, she might merely be a pawn in a scheme orchestrated by Emir Dimov (played by Alec Secareanu), who is posing as a high-ranking Navy officer.