Mitch Kearns is an agent with Gideon.
That is an Israeli-based company specializing "in rescuing kidnap and ransom victims" becoming very well known and respected in the growing field of K&R operations. It was founded and still run by a man named Anatoly, a older fellow who is still spry and game enough to take part occasionally in actual field work. Considering the three decades he had spent in that field for Mossad's special operations division, the expertise he presents is impressive.
Our first meeting with Kearns takes place while he is an FBI agent with all the impressive training that occupation brings. He is also considered by all who knew him to be an expert tracker; likely one of the very best at mantracking.
Kearns is from Arizona and lives there as much as he can, relishing the wide openness of the state and leaving the confines of Phoenix at a moment's notice. He "had learned his trade initially growing up on a ranch in southern Arizona. Later, as a combat tracker in the 1st Special Forces, he refined his tracking skills in Afghanistan and Africa on a daily basis running counter-insurgency operations". His love of his work is his driving force and he relishes any chance to teach others out in the field. He also "had an utter disdain for office work. This had "kept him from rising up through the ranks during his six years on the FBI's HRT" but he "was content to stay in field operations".
His time with the Bureau will come to an end, voluntarily for the most part, as a result of the first recorded adventure and that will be followed by an invitation to consult with Gideon on an extended basis. He will find the offer desireable for a couple of good reasons. The pay would be good. The work would be interesting and sure to be varied. And there was one other huge draw.
That is Devorah Leitner, a four year veteran of Gideon. What she brings to that company is shown in the very first scene we have of her, taking part in a rescue in Turkmenistan and having to deal with an armed guard who got the drop on her. What she did to that man in the next few seconds, including smashing his trachea, gouging his left eye, and slamming his face onto her rising knee, was followed by her getting serious at putting him down. 'Dev', as she prefers her friends to call her, is as beautiful as she is deadly, and she is very, very deadly. Leitner is also the daughter of Gideon, trained from an early age to be tougher and more dangerous that those she might have to combat.
Together Kearns and Leitner will make one impressive partnership.