The Falcon Killer

Book excerpt: The Japanese military has turned the once-thriving Chinese city of Nencheng into a reeking pile of blood and ash. And now the Japanese Rising Sun threatens to scorch the ancient—and oil-rich—Kingdom of the Silver Lake. Can the Chinese survive the onslaught? Do they have a prayer? The answer is about to fall out of the sky. He is The Falcon Killer. China's ace fighter pilot and scourge of the Japanese air force, he is, in fact, Bill Gaylord, an American orphaned and self-reliant—a man without a country and without fear. Like William Holden, he's the guy every man wants to be ... and every woman wants to be with. Shot down over Nencheng, Gaylord parachutes into the arms of the one woman who can give him reason to live ... and to rejoin the fight against Japan—as he squares off against their top spy. His prey is in his sights, and catching it will change everything ... for The Falcon Killer. As a young man, Hubbard visited Manchuria, where his closest friend headed up British intelligence in northern China. Hubbard gained a unique insight into the intelligence operations and spy-craft in the region as well as the hostile political climate between China and Japan—a knowledge that informs stories like The Falcon Killer.