Patrick Evans is an agent with the CIA.
He is, sort of, when we meet him. He will change employers a while after that introduction in the first recorded adventure, a difference of opinion bringing that about. He will remain working for the American government, though. It is what he knows and what he want to keep doing.
Our first encounter with him is an intense one, detailed in the opening lines. He is returning to his home and was just shutting the door with an assailant with a gun tries to end his existence. A brief but quite intense altercation will take place when the intruder's gun does not work as he expected but Evans' knife, pulled from a block in the kitchen does. Evans does not hesitate to make absolutely sure that his attacker is fully dead, leaving him the only one breathing as he has a moment to ponder who his opponent was and why the attack.
There is something quite telling about that opening sequence that shows quite a bit about Evans. He survived the surprise attack, which is impressive, but in the aftermath he sees that in the excitement pumped with adrenaline, he had stabbed several times for the man's heart and gotten close but not hit it. "I'm not even dangerous unless frightened," he acknowledges to himself, "He scared the hell out of me, though, scared me so bad I killed him by reflex". This shows that Evans is a very capable man but by no means a hardened killing machine; he knows what to do in such a situation but has not been in one all that often. Later, after spending considerable time getting rid of the body (why he did not alert the authorities is explained nicely), he goes to bed with the attacker's gun on his nightstand, having made sure it was functional and ready for use.
Mentioned above was the fact that Evans was 'sort of' with the CIA. He had in fact just quit because he wanted to go after a shadowy terrorist who had killed his informant and friend, all in preparation for an upcoming attack that the Agency did not believe likely. Told to stop, Evans chose not to. That independent streak, coupled with the determination to get justice, are two traits we will see evidenced more than once as we follow Evans in his new line of work.
Good Lines:
- Regarding the man that Evans kills at the beginning of his story, "He had free will and he had f**ked it up".
- Opening line of the second adventure, said by Patrick Evans to his lady friend, "My boss is in the trunk". He wasn't lying.