Annie Hawkins Green

American Writing Awards, 2022 Finalist Women's Fiction, Finalist Mystery/Suspense Firebird Award, 2022 Winner Romantic Suspense, Winner Women's Fiction, Winner Suspense November 2015-Seasoned war photojournalist Annie Hawkins returns home after an assignment to find her life falling apart. She's under investigation for an incident that happened six months earlier in Afghanistan. Her best friend's daughter, Seema, is still missing, apparently with her Taliban boyfriend. Her daughter Mel and friends are busy fundraising to rebuild the Wad Qol Secondary School for Girls and expect Annie to deliver the money. To make matters worse, she has a major argument with the love of her life, Finn Cerelli, and they're no longer speaking. When Annie returns to Afghanistan to cover peace talks between the government and the Taliban, she takes a side trip to Wad Qol, where she discovers that not everyone wants the new school. Sabotage delays construction, and when a worker ends up dead, it's clear the militants are to blame. It's also obvious that they know exactly where Annie is.

Despite her PTSD, seasoned photojournalist Annie Hawkins heads back to Afghanistan. The Taliban's takeover of the country is the story of the decade, and Annie is determined to cover it. She's also desperate to keep an eye on her twenty-two-year-old daughter Mel, whose first job out of college has taken her to Kabul. The very air of the city is heavy with fear as the Taliban draw closer. The danger becomes even more personal for Annie when she discovers her daughter at the airport after a bombing. Then, her activist friends Bahar and Fatima face arrest and probable death sentences for their work in support of women and the coalition forces. When she tries to help them escape, Annie realizes that she's in the crosshairs, too. With her longtime love Admiral Finn Cerelli in Washington, DC, Annie has to rely on her crew's Afghan fixer and her own wits to save as many lives as possible.