Anna Starks is an agent with the CIA.
On the books she might be an agent. In actuality, she has a more specific specialty - she is an assassin. She is a very good one having taken care some nasty individuals on her own, the way she prefers to operate, with no one else to have to mind or watch out for. She answers to the Deputy Director of Operations directly.
When we first meet her, she is lying on the deck of a charter boat sunbathing in a very small bikini, drawing the attention and lust of a wealthy young Arab man. She was earning extra money as a deck hand for the company, cleaning the decks and operating the shark cage pulley system, diving with sharks being one of the ways the owner attracted clients. At least that is what she used as her cover; her real job was decidedly a "wet" one.
Born of an American father living in Egypt and an Egyptian mother, she spent her early years in the Middle East. Just as her parents were planning to move to the States, a terrorist attack robbed her of her mother and set her on a path which would, years later, give her a chance to get revenge by taking out terrorists one at a time.
One of the best skills that Starks possesses, other than her ability to kill without warning or hesitation, was her acting ability in that she could adapt a persona and truly become it making it very difficult for others to see through the charade. Her abilities with languages and dialects helps a great deal in the deception, as does her darker complexion allowing her to take on personas from just about any Mediterranean country.
She, of course, never forgets who she is and why she is wherever an assignment takes her so when it was time to break cover and accomplish her mission, she never falters.