Lockhart

Joe Lockhart can barely remember a time before his mother, Nancy, a drug company executive, brought him to Italy to escape her grief after the death of Joe's father. Now, against a background of escalating political violence and Nancy's concerns for his safety, Joe wants to finish high school before returning to the US. He begins translating confidential company files for his mother and Luke, her colleague. The work seems straightforward and harmless. While Nancy and Luke are in Germany on business, Joe uncovers a plot to overthrow the Italian government. Soon, he finds himself kidnapped, wanted by the military police, and racing to help head off a coup d'état. Lockhart is a tale of personal and political conflict, of recovery from grief, and finding new meaning in the idea of home.

The ups and downs of first love are tough enough. As political violence continues to roil Italy and racial violence grows in the USA, Sandra and Joe come back to the US to attend different schools. In Italy, a vicious public hate campaign targets Joe's mother, Nancy. In Virginia, Joe is learning brutal lessons about race relations in the United States, having grown up in Italy. In Washington DC, Sandra uncovers an international art forgery scheme. The two lovers meet again in Rome, where they discover that they and Nancy have a common enemy. Working with the FBI and the Italian police, they might be able to stop him, if they can stay alive that long.

A badge is not bullet-proof, and warships don't sink easily. In the conclusion of the Lockhart trilogy, Sandra and Joe come back to the US to finish their studies. The historic art recovery has made Sandra a target to prevent her helping Interpol with a new international art crime case. Meanwhile, Joe remains a target of revenge. Surviving bombs and snipers, the two lovers must determine what they truly value and learn to make a life together—if they can stay alive to do that.