Read Online Halcyon The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Robert Lewis - Free Book Online

courtyards and rooms. Once the honored dead of the Phoenician princes and priests had lain in this silent city by the sea, but when the Mazigh warlords and queens retook their country they had built a grander walled city for their fallen lords and ladies, leaving the old tombs by the sea all but forgotten. There had been no new additions to this neighborhood in over a thousand years, and treasure hunters had made paupers of the skeletal remains in the great mausoleums. Now, only homeless wanderers and miserable poets visited the dead, and many of them never left.
    The second tomb loomed out of the darkness, its entrance black and gaping. Syfax shoved Kenan off and dropped down beside him. With his revolver drawn, he slipped around the wall and inside the burial chamber. The thin light of the stars cast a faint silvery glow over the floor just inside the doorway, but the rest of the space remained hidden. The major heard his footsteps echoing on all sides and in his mind an image of the room formed. Just another empty dome . Beside him, Kenan exhaled slowly, his breath curling in faint white wisps of vapor.
    “I hear every single person in España has seen a ghost at least once in his life,” the corporal said. “Especially when it’s so cold you can see your breath.”
    “In España, it’s always so cold you can see your breath. Come on.” Syfax jogged back to the horse and barely waited for Kenan to climb up behind him before they were off down the sandy streets of the dead city.
     The light from the third tomb’s entrance cast a long golden banner across the backs of the dunes, illuminating the waving grasses and shivering bushes in the hard-packed sand. A single horse stood behind the mound, half-hidden in the shadows of a stunted and gnarled tree.
    Syfax dropped to the ground, yanked Kenan down beside him, and led the mare away from the path, leaving the corporal to find something to hitch her to. The major strode silently up to the mausoleum and peeked around the front. Muffled voices were debating something inside, and judging from how long-winded one of the voices was, Syfax guessed the other person was getting an earful that wasn’t entirely complimentary.
    When the corporal sidled up next to him, Syfax gestured around at the front door of the tomb. Kenan nodded. Syfax pulled out his service revolver with a frown. Damn it. The kid’s unarmed . He shoved his gun at the corporal and ignored Kenan’s confused expression.
    Syfax drew the wide-bladed knife from his right boot and jogged out to the front of the tomb. Through the open entrance he glimpsed two figures, and one of them was definitely wearing a grey jacket with silver bars on the shoulder. Good enough for government work . He strode past the threshold and Kenan dashed in behind him brandishing the revolver. “Hands up! Royal Marshals! No one move!”
    The two women froze. One was shorter and older wearing expensive shoes. The other was wearing a police captain’s uniform. Syfax relieved her of her sidearm. “Good evening, Captain Aknin. Have a seat.” He pointed at a large, jagged rock just behind her.
    Captain Aknin sighed and raised her hands in a half-hearted gesture of surrender. “I think I’ll stand, sir.”
    “I wasn’t asking.” He shoved her down onto the rock as he checked her revolver. “Kenan, search our other friend.”
    “Yes, sir.” Kenan lowered his weapon and approached the older woman in the green dress and gold jacket. “Ambassador Chaou, yes? Where’s your gun, ma’am?” He quickly patted down her jacket pockets and slid his hand around her belt. “The gun you used to shoot the Crake ’s pilot, where is it?” The woman stood quite still, staring across at the major while Kenan searched her.
    Syfax saw the twitch in her hand. “Kid, get back!”
    The ambassador lurched back to put the seated police captain between her and Syfax. He saw her hand flash through her inner jacket and he heard the click of a