Michael McVeigh is an assassin for the CIA.
This highly dedicated agent is trained to go undercover for as long as needed to get close to a target and then to use whatever means were necessary to eliminate him. Whether it is hands, a knife, a garrote, or a gun, McVeigh had the expertise and the nerve to carry it out.
The only child of a Florida cowman and a Seminole Indian, McVeigh learned at an early age how to fit into two different worlds, a training that would be helpful during his later career. From his uncles on his mother's side, he learned in the swamps of the Everglades how to fend for himself. He also learned that a rash move, unthought-of or unplanned, could get you killed. Just as important, though, he learned that not being able to react instantly was another way to death.
As a young adult, McVeigh joined the U.S. Air Force out of college, being a pilot. It was as a pilot on an assignment connected to the CIA that McVeigh met a senior Agency official named Rosen who liked what he saw in the pilot and his quick response to problems. McVeigh was sent to train at the Agency's various farms, learning the many tricks that they had to show and he learned them well. Finishing, he was transferred indefinitely to work for the CIA.
For his covert, highly dangerous wet work, McVeigh receives a sizeable bonus for each assignment. He certainly earns it, taking jobs that most sane people would walk away from, but he believes in what he is doing and he enjoys the danger and the challenge. He might do it for nothing but that would be foolish and McVeigh never does anything foolish.