A Time to Die — Larry Johns

Burma has already fallen, and it seems certain that India must follow. The Allied armies, frantically attempting to regroup, must find a way to halt the westward advance of the Japanese, to gain a few precious hours' respite. The target is Major General Tohutaro Sakurai, Commander of the Japanese Fourteenth Army, mastermind of the Japanese victories from Singapore to the Arakan. For Sakurai alone, if only for a short time, holds the key to the next advance. The method can only be the assassin's bullet or blade. But secrets are almost impossible to keep in a part of the world where fifth columnists and double agents are commonplace. For Captain Peter Lockhart the mission is doomed to failure almost before it has begun. Sakurai and Lockhart are drawn inexorably together on a tightening band of pride and circumstance, and the conclusion is one that neither man can foresee.