Raptor Executive Protection Team
Yemi Uzunma
The Detail Leader for Raptor’s EPT. Born in Lagos, Yemi spent most of his youth in the suburb of Rockville, Maryland until his parents sent him back to West Africa after he displayed behavioral issues in high school. After graduation, he enlists in the Nigerian Army and eventually joins the State Security Service, Nigeria’s primary domestic intelligence agency. His tactics in apprehending boat militants in the war-torn Delta region attracts the attention of the Western oil industry and he gets offered a consulting position by northern Virginia-based military contractor, Titus. Upon moving back to the United States, Yemi grows restless with the comfort allowed by his new job and he is convinced by his sister, Karen, to join her new security firm where he leads a team of combat experts from diverse backgrounds to focus on protecting political VIPs in the DC area for a 24-hour period on dates they are predicted to be killed on.
Karen Uzunma
Raptor’s Chief Financial Officer and President. Utilizing her great credit and connections to the local business community, Karen founded Raptor as a security staffing company that primarily serves commercial clients and property patrols. However, upon discovering her brother’s research on the Bazaar, an online assassination market that threatens the lives of many in Washington’s politically elite circles, she enlists Yemi to rebrand Raptor as an executive protection firm. Although lacking her brother’s combat experience, she excelled in academics graduating summa cum laude from Wake Forest University with a degree in sociology. She chooses entrepreneurship over law school to the concern of her parents, but quickly gains accolades upon her success in an industry dominated by individuals twice her age of a different gender.
Jasper Kidanu
Yemi’s closest friend and the second-in-charge on Yemi’s squad. Jasper grew up in Shashamene in Ethiopia and served for several years in Ethiopian intelligence where he helped train the newly formed Republican Guard, an elite military unit dedicated to protecting the country’s government officials. He met Yemi during a security conference meant to foster cooperation between East and West Africa where they traded intel on battling extremist militants. He followed Yemi to the USA where Karen immediately gave him employment and his tactical expertise became critical to the firm’s success.
Terry Blackwell
A former member of the US Air Force Security Forces and the U.S. Park Police, Blackwell joins Raptor after he exits the USPP for undisclosed reasons. He has the most experience interacting with law enforcement more than any other Raptor employee and his resume made his selection an easy decision. However, Terry struggles on balancing his loyalty to Raptor with the pressure of joining a larger, more established firm or another law enforcement agency.
Lyle Evans
Lyle had been employed by Raptor since its inception and is the only original security guard to be offered a role on the six-man roster of the Executive Protection Team. He started his career as a teenager when he worked for his father’s armed response security business in Kingston, Jamaica. He flees to the States when the company is shut down for its ties to a notorious drug lord and he begins a career as a bounty hunter in North Carolina after he settles in. He eventually heads up North to Maryland where he signs up to surveil parking lots and real estate for Raptor after some failed ventures. His unconventional background and personality causes him to clash with many members of Raptor, especially Terry.
Nick Rice
The youngest member of Raptor’s EPT. He graduated from Morgan State University as a Computer Science major right before being recruited by Raptor despite Yemi’s initial reservations given his inexperience. He ran cross country for Morgan and also served on the campus police, but his biggest asset to Raptor is his expertise on cyber forensics. His real dream, though, is to be a journalist and forms a secret working relationship with reporter Abdallah Kalfat as public interest in the Bazaar grows.
Victor Osorio
The oldest member of the Executive Protection Team. A veteran of Venezuela’s fragmented national police, he made the exurbs of the capital region his home after gaining employment with a controlled demolition firm prior to joining Raptor. His expertise in explosives and low salary requirements made him an attractive candidate.
Assassins [First novel]
Aaron Williams
An 18 year old 3D printing enthusiast who decides to carry out the murder of a former ambassador’s son to get his mother and him out of poverty after his father committed suicide when his architectual design firm folded during the Pandemic. With his weapons unable to be ballistically traced and his careful target selection, he ends up being a cunning adversary to Raptor. He shares intel on Bazaar targets with his online comrade, Doug Vanderville, and he reluctantly teams up with local drug dealer Rold Jenkins to carry out a hit on the ambassador himself, Chiedu Attah.
Rold Jenkins
A full time DC health inspector who moonlights as a small-scale crack cocaine and heroin dealer. When one of his lieutenants, Qasim, introduces him to Aaron, he becomes obsessed with the potential of the Bazaar for launching a war on the country’s ruling classes. Despite Aaron’s initial reluctance and political apathy, the two end up joining together to go after Chiedu where a successful hit will make them very wealthy men.
Merlin Erazo
A grocery clerk and veteran of the Salvadoran Civil War who becomes a vigilante after his young manager who introduced him to the Bazaar is murdered by local gang members.
Law Enforcement/Other Contractors
Kirk Fitzgerald
A chief consultant for the security contractor, Titus, who is responsible for bringing Yemi back to the States. Spearheaded by Yemi’s research on the Bazaar, Kirk forms a new division at Titus called the Digital Market Response Team that becomes a rival to Raptor once Yemi resigns from his position to join his sister full-time.
Chris Towers
The special agent in charge of the DC chapter of the Secret Service’s Cyber Fraud Task Force. The DC CFTF becomes the primary law enforcement unit tasked with investigating homicides that are tied to the Bazaar and Towers finds himself clashing with Raptor despite his friendly relationship with EPT member, Terry Blackwell.