Mark Stoner is an adventurer.
Stoner has spent the last fifteen years since his college days trying his hand at different careers. Though he has been in numerous businesses, nothing held his attention for long until he came upon import and salvage. In addition to running a salvage operation out of Key West, specializing in Spanish wrecks, he has made himself quite wealthy buying artifacts around the world and selling them to museums and collectors.
A tall, muscular man with skin bronzed from months on a boat in the Caribbean, Stoner is in his late 30's but able to more than hold his own against most men a decade younger. He is an excellent skipper and a master diver in addition to being an acknowledge expert in antiquities, especially those which might be found in a ship hundreds of feet below the ocean surface.
Though he knows that he could retire and live comfortably for the rest of his life on what he has already earned, such inactivity would be intolerable to a man who craves adventure like Stoner does. And even more than adventure, Stoner needs a challenge to keep his mind fresh and to provide a drive.
Though his actions sometimes skirt the edges of the law a bit closely, his own moral code has kept him straight and able to sleep well at night.
Not a spy by any means, Stoner still belongs in this collection, IMHO, because his adventures take him around the world and pits him against powerful forces sometimes bent on rebellious intents. He must deal with governments around the world and those out to overthrow them. He never wants to get entangled in their business but money and politics are always partners.