He is a good man, a brilliant corporate executive, an honest, handsome family man admired by men and desired by women. But sixteen years ago Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam.There, in 1968, the men under his command committed a murderous atrocity-and together swore never to tell the world what they had done. Not the press, army justice, and the events he tried to forget have caught up with Ben Tyson. His family, his career, and his personal sense of honor hang in the balance. And only one woman can reveal the truth of his past-and set him free.
CHAPTER 1
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 Citadel, and the
soaring spires of the Catholic cathedral. A remarkable picture, Tyson
thought. He nodded to himself. Hue. Tyson said, "Good book?"
McCormick looked up with feigned nonchalance. "Oh, not bad."
"Did I get an honorable mention?"
McCormick hesitated a moment, then without a word, he handed Tyson the
opened book.
Ben Tyson read:
On the sixteenth day of the battle of Hue, 15 February, an
American rifle platoon found itself pinned down by enemy fire in the
western suburbs of the city. The platoon was an element of Alpha
Company, Fifth Battalion of the Seventh Cavalry Regiment, of the First
Air Cavalry Division. As a point of historical interest, the Seventh
Cavalry was the ill-fated regiment commanded by General Custer at the
Little Big Horn.
The rifle platoon under fire was led by a twenty-five-year-old Auburn
ROTC graduate, Lieutenant Benjamin J. Tyson, a New Yorker.
Tyson continued to stare at the open book without reading.
He glanced at McCormick, who seemed, Tyson thought, embarrassed. Tyson
continued reading.
The following account of what happened that day is drawn
from interviews with two members of Tyson's platoon whom I will identify
only as Pfc X and Specialist Four Y. The story, heretofore untold, was
originally brought to my attention by a nun of mixed French and
Vietnamese ancestry named Sister Teresa. Further details regarding the
provenance of this story may be found at the conclusion of this chapter.
Tyson closed his eyes. Through the blackness an image took
shape: a Eurasian girl, dressed in white, with a silver cross hanging
between her breasts. Her body was fuller than that of a Vietnamese, and
there was a slight wave in her long black hair. She had high cheekbones
and almond eyes, but her eyes were soft brown, and there was just the
suggestion of freckles on her nose. As he held the image in his mind's
eye, the mouth turned up in a smile that seemed to transform her whole
face, making the features more strongly Gallic. The Cupid's-bow mouth
pursed, and she spoke softly,
"Tu es un homme
intéressant."
"Et tu, Térèse, es une femme intéressante."
Tyson opened his eyes.
Nelson DeMille was born in New York City and moved as a child with his
family to Long Island. In high school, he played football and ran track.
DeMille spent three years at Hofstra University, then joined the Army
and attended Officer Candidate School. He was commissioned a Second
Lieutenant and served in Vietnam as an infantry platoon leader with the
First Cavalry Division.
DeMille returned to the States and went back to Hofstra University where
he received his degree in Political Science and History. He married and
had two children, divorced, and remarried.
DeMille's earlier books were NYPD detective novels. His first major
novel was By the Rivers of Babylon, published in 1978 and still
in print, as are all his succeeding novels. He is a member of The
Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America, and American Mensa. He
holds three honorary doctorates: Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra
University, Doctor of Literature from Long Island University, and Doctor
of Humane Letters from Dowling College.
