Spearhead

B Company has been sent to Hong Kong, still for the time being part of the British empire. Gilbey trains new recruits while 6 Platoon has the inglourious task of hunting down and handing back refugees from China.

The platoon is still on furlough. Some of the squaddies have been brawling in the local bars and brothels. Mayhoe encounters racism in the army. Adams's father visits the refugee camps for the Vietnamese boat people. Pickering's love life takes a possibly murky step forward. And Bilinski is having an affair with a Chinese woman, unaware that some shady characters are watching him.

Bilinski's love affair with the lady from Macau has left him open to blackmail by the snakeheads, who want him to join their trafficking racket. When a search party is sent, his interpreter is found murdered but the man himself has disappeared.

Bilinski is under investigation for possible complicity in people smuggling for the snakeheads in return for dubious favours received. Box is furious: he should have been going home to England, but he has to replace Bilinski in charge of 6 Platoon, itself festering with resentment.

It's time to go home. There are debts to be paid, treasured possessions to be left behind, goodbyes to be said. And futures to think about. Can a Black man like Mayhoe get promotion in spite of racism in the British army? Will Box's wife let him re-enlist? What of Bilinski, demoted to store duty? Gilbey's retirement plans? For Pickering, there's a final surprise.