The Last Bridge — Brian Garfield

A crack team of American specialists makes a deadly run into North Vietnam

Cliffs hang over the rail bridge that crosses the Sang Chu River, protecting the vital North Vietnamese supply line from attack by American bombers. It's only accessible by a parachute drop that would put American GIs deep behind enemy lines. No point on the Ho Chi Minh Trail is more crucial to the Viet Cong war effort, and nowhere is more tightly guarded. Colonel David Tyreen has just sent a team to destroy the bridge, and none returned. It's time to assemble another team.

The weather is awful, and the only plane available is a rickety old captured jet. Tyreen's mission is suicide, pure and simple, and he asks only for volunteers. The eight men who sign on have nothing to fear from death. This is lucky, for death approaches with all the speed of the swirling Sang Chu current.