Ryan Stone is an agent with the FBI.
His area of investigation is counter-terrorism and it is in that line that we follow his adventures as he is put on the trail of an Islamic terror group leader very much despising America and the intellect and training to be able to act on that hatred.
We learn immediately in the first recorded adventure quite a bit about Stone and the trauma that would eventually bring him to work for the Bureau.
We can follow along as he suffers the physical and emotional beatings of an alcoholic abusive father who would kill his wife in a drunken rage. We are with Stone when he makes a horrible decision to force his girl friend to flee with him that terrible night, only to lose control of his car resulting in a crash that injured him but claimed her. Stone would that terrible evening see his mother murdered by his father and his girl friend killed by his mistake. Both loses would remain with him forever.
A foster father would step in to help a floundering Stone, taking him under his wing and as the teen became an adult, bring him into the DEA where the man worked. There Stone would become an excellent agent. "Through [his] teachings, I became an expert on misdirection, entrapment, and how to anticipate my opponent's moves. I could handle mayhem at any level." We also learn from Stone that, "I was a tough, smart agent. I didn't let anyone take advantage of me and no one beat me to the punch. Several years undercover with the DEA made me very street-smart, and the techniques Russ taught me on how to read people made me a perfect federal agent."
Eventually he would be offered a chance to "switch allegiances" to work for the FBI and he took it. It would be just after the switch that he would become involved in the terrorist hunt that makes him of interest to this compendium.
His prior training will prove vital to his future success going up against Islamic extremists, as will two other facts. One is that his natural dark Middle East features gave him an edge because he did not look out of place while visiting mosques or establishments catering to people from that region. The other is that during his DEA days, he had found cause to switch from his non-practicing Catholic roots to a conversion to Islam.
Stone's success in the FBI is will be impressive. So are the people he will have to go up against.