Matt Browning is a former soldier.
He was a pretty impressive one having been a member in very good standing with the elite British Special Air Service (SAS), at least until he challenged an order and then suddenly his standing was extremely poor and he was invited to leave that illustrious organization. Out on the street, Browning learned that the skills he had learned with the SAS had a calling but, unfortunately, did not pay especially well.
One thing that Browning is not is a spy and like many who proudly wore a military uniform, his attitude towards spooks was less than favorable so that fact that he was not one is a good thing.
Unfortunately for Browning, now that he is a civilian again, things are not going very well for him - downright bad, in fact, and when he is offered a one-shot opportunity to climb out of a very deep hole he had dug himself into, one that had him working - in a way - for MI5, he felt he had no choice but to take it. And then in the second of the two adventures, he will be approached by a sister organization, MI6, for a bit of help and once again he will find himself having to step into the spook world.
Browning's introduction to the cload and dagger world came because of an intense need for money; he had been working as a bodyguard for an independent stock trader who had taught Browning some of how he did what he did and made a considerable amount doing it. Browning had learned a fair amount and did pretty good himself but when the bodyguard gig ended, Browning kept up his trading and made a huge mistake - he thought he was smarter than he really was. His investments tanked and he tried to recoup by borrowing money and those stocked tanked and he tried again. When he reckoned he was £500k in the red, he knew he was in major trouble because the people he borrowed for did not play nice.
So, Browning is ripe for being approached for a dangerous mission backed by MI5 and since danger was something he was quite familiar with, he said yes.
Good Lines:
- Regarding Browning's girl friend with a short fuse: "She could kill a man who turns up ten minutes late for a date."