Patti Rogers is an agent with the FBI. Joseph Reeder is a consultant to it.
We meet Reeder first and learn right away that he has not yet connected to the Bureau. He is in fact a retired Secret Service agent who had spotted an assassin in a crowd the President was glad-handing and had taken a bullet meant for the Chief Executive. That projectile had shattered his collarbone and given him several months of painful recovery. The knowledge that he had done his job in saving that leader's life came with the knowledge that the leader was someone Reeder disagreed with totally, meant that he could stomach only a short time on desk duty before retiring on disability.
He had, unfortunately, made the mistake of letting several fellow agents and his supervisor know his attitude as he turned in his papers and because the Service was supposed to be apolitical, it had made him a pariah when the Washington Post had gotten wind of it. Reeder became a living legend no one wanted to associate with.
Patti Rogers is an up-and-coming agent with the Bureau when she is introduced to Reeder when her boss's boss put together the task force she would soon be running. An ROTC graduate of the University of Iowa who then served her required few years with the Army, Rogers had specialized in criminal psychology in college and had maintained her interest in that field by becoming an MP. After her service, the transition to the FBI was a natural and at 35 years old, she was already respected by her peers and noticed by her superiors.
Reeder and Rogers would be paired when the task force was formed. Rogers was the one holding the badge so she was the official senior partner but Reeder was the more experienced so the teaming would be one of equals. Theirs would soon be a good friendship and better still, a very good working relationship.
Rogers is described as "attractive if not pretty in the conventional sense. Cute", with short brown hair. Reeder could be thought of as "ruggedly handsome" and "distinguishly so with the white hair and mathing eyebrows. Nice tan".
One other interesting fact is that for quite some years, Reeder was called "Peep" by his coworkers due to his almost uncanny ability with body language. "The nickname Peep had been bestowed on him by his fellow Secret Service agents for his storied ability to read people. The more Reeder discouraged its use, the more it had kept up, until the appellation stuck. Now it seemed everyone called him Peep except his eighteen-year-old daughter, Amy. And his ex-wife, Melanie, when she called him anything at all."