Word of Honor
Chapter One
Ben Tyson folded his Wall Street Journal and stared out the window
of the speeding commuter train. The dreary borough of Queens rolled
by, looking deceptively habitable in the bright May morning
sunshine.
Tyson glanced at the man in the facing seat, John McCormick, a
neighbor and social acquaintance. McCormick was reading a hardcover
book, and Tyson focused on the title: Hue: Death of a City.
McCormick flipped back a page and reread something, then glanced
over the book and made unexpected eye contact with Tyson. He dropped
his eyes quickly back to the book.
Tyson felt a sudden sense of foreboding. He focused again on the
book jacket. The cover showed a red-tinged photograph of the ancient
imperial city of Hue, a low-angle aerial perspective. The city
spread out on both sides of the red-running Perfume River, the
bridges broken and collapsed into the water. Great black and scarlet
billows of smoke hung over the blazing city, and the sun, a crimson
half ball, rose over the distant South China Sea, silhouetting the
dominant features of the town: the Imperial Palace, the high walls
and towers of the Cita ... read full excerpt from Word of Honor ebook
