Arch Patton is an agent of the CIA.
Patton says in the first recorded adventure that he is 60 years of age. He is rather pleased to acknowledge that he did not look anywhere near that age but he was, nevertheless, just days from reaching the mark.
He also indicates that he is no longer with the Agency, stating:
"He'd retired ten years ago before coming to be lying alone in the mud. Retired from being a field operations specialist. A real spy. A spy who had to get in and get out with almost no help, and accomplish missions which were too bizarre to be written into movie or television scripts. Spying wasn't a believable occupation. Not in the culture of modern America. So he portrayed himself as a retired professor, which he resembled much more than the public's idea of a spy."
He adds, sadly, that "he had nothing to show for his work. A small retirement from the Agency. A family, strewn across the landscape of his life, broken and dysfunctional." And, "Arch was left with no real life, and he knew it."
Which is a tad hard to understand considering that when it is determined he is needed again, the Agency assures a Senator that Patton is the very best man for the job, "experienced, resourceful, trained in multiple martial arts and weaponry". Of course it might have something to do with his having less than nice things to say about them. Who knows.
Nevertheless, as down as Patton makes his life after retirement sound, he will hook up with an old flame and will find himself back in the action, whether he wanted it or not.