PERSONALITY PROFILE/BACKGROUND

Real Name: Alexandra Masterson    Alias/ID: None     Code Name: Griffin

Sex: Female         Age: 30          Height: 5’6         Weight:         Build: Well toned

Hair: Brown, medium length         Eye Color: Blue         Skin: Light-toned black

Distinguishing Features: Blue eyes (because she’s black), which sometimes also seem rather penetrating

Emotional & Mental Hang-ups: Almost takes it personally when someone good is killed. Her father is still obsessed with the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK. Alexandra did not take the death of Israeli Prime Minister Rabin well, despite having never met him. Also doesn’t deal well with news of child abuse. Believes in protecting and helping people, but there can be conditions. Will handle most assignments if it’s on a one-shot basis but for an ongoing assignment, won’t do it if she doesn’t approve of the person or their actions.

Birthplace: Washington, DC

Education: Bachelor’s degree from American University in criminology and psychology

Profession/Cover: Bodyguard. Runs her own bodyguard agency, Griffin Guardians.

Best Friend:

Men/Women Friends: Greenlaw (met at FLETC and crossed paths a few times while she was in the Secret Service); George Yamaha

Enemies and why: None except maybe some people she helped to arrest while in the Secret Service.

Parents, occupation, status: Father, Fred, is a police officer in Washington, D.C.; mother, Anita, is a secretary.

Base of Operations: New York City

Strongest Character Traits: Protectiveness; sense of justice; compassion

Weakest Character Traits: Limited sense of self-preservation;

Sees himself as: Someone who still hasn’t figured out what she’s looking for but is starting to figure out the questions

Seen by others as: Almost serene; a very calming, competent person;

Sense of humor: Understated, subtle

Basic Nature: Friendly, helpful with a strong sense of determination and willpower.

Ambitions: To make a difference

Philosophy of Life: Leave the world a better place than you found it

Hobbies: Shopping (by necessity; her profession can be rather wardrobe intensive); target shooting; tai chi; meditation. Alex has been studying Buddhism, Taoism, etc., but doesn't consider herself a true practioner of any of them yet.

Music: Soul, blues, a little jazz

Reading: History and historical fiction (good historical fiction; not thinly disguised romance novels)

Art: No real interest though she likes nature photography

Favorite colors: blue, green, white, navy, pastels

Physical, economic, and mental status of home: Comfortably sparse; not a lot of "stuff"; comes across as very cool and neutral yet welcoming

Most important fact about the character: Has an extremely strong sense of community and service

Background: Alexandra was a normal, albeit really good kid. She’s the type who helped everybody out, had a bunch of friends, got straight A’s (or damn close), wasn’t a cheerleader. She was a touch of bookworm. She had one older brother who was killed by a drunk driver as a child. She got along well with both parents growing up (no serious rebellion; just minor stuff like hair and music), though to some degree she was always more dad’s favorite than mom’s. That still holds today, particularly since her relationship with her mom has become rather strained in recent years. Her father’s been staying out of it, confident it will work out eventually.

Growing up, she definitely had a pro-law enforcement background. What steered her to the Secret Service was her father. Fred worked on the special security unit which worked in conjunction with the Secret Service to provide security at parades, inaugurations, and other public events, so he was in a situation to casually get to know some members of the Secret Service. He also had a chance to see JFK, RFK and MLK up close and personal on a few occasions. He took it hard when they were assassinated (Malcolm X’s assassination probably didn’t go over too well either but he didn’t feel as strongly about it because he thought Malcolm was a bit too radical). While not a person who rants about the good ol’ days, his one exception is probably that this country started going to hell back then.

So when Alex went to college partially on an academic scholarship, she had a double major in criminology and psychology. The FBI tried to recruit her (because again she got A’s), but her heart was set on the Secret Service. She did the usual rotation through the protection/security and counterfeiting divisions. She surprised herself by being a good counter-sniper (she didn’t handle guns much prior to training) but primarily worked security for various government officials — no one terribly interesting on a regular basis, but she gained a lot of experience in protecting VIPs.

It’s not unusual at FLETC [Federal Law Enforcement Training Center], for a distinguished member of an agency that uses FLETC for training to occasionally give a talk there, teach a class, etc. since it guarantees the students get as much real-world information as possible. It was at FLETC that Alex met U.S. Marshall Greenlaw and then continued to bump into him at various shooting competitions, etc. She respects Greenlaw as a distinguished agent and a decent guy. There is absolutely nothing improper or out of the ordinary about their relationship. In fact, Alex is EXTREMELY discreet about her love life. The best coworkers ever got out of her was that she might "have a date." No specifics as to with whom, where they were going, etc. She would only bring up a date if it was to beg off another invitation. If questioned further, she’d either give broad answers or, if the questions got too probing, come up with a joking comment that would put the subject to rest thoroughly, but good naturedly. Like Sam, she’s very straight forward, but their styles differ drastically. Sam’s outspoken and can be rather brash and pushy. Yet Sam in a lot of ways isn’t very open. Alexandra’s open, friendly, seemingly guileless and much more diplomatic.

Work in the Secret Service was pretty much what Alexandra expected, and she liked it. She left mainly because she was tired of the bureaucracy and because of what she heard about in other branches of Federal law enforcement. The harassment that female and minority agents dealt with in ATF, particularly as one moved up the ladder, left a bad taste in her mouth. While she didn’t experience anything like it in the Secret Service, she wasn’t entirely sure if that was just due to being lucky enough to have good superiors, but she had no interest in ever being made the victim for standing up to bad treatment. So she saved her money and started a small bodyguard business in New York City (since in D.C. most of the people who need bodyguards usually get them from the federal government or other governments).

Griffin Guardians has done well. Alex is making a decent living (though she also knows every good source of quality clothing for a low price in the city. Escorting men to formal affairs keeps the overhead high). She specializes in providing "dates" for men who need a little more security but don’t want to make it obvious. Again, she’s very discreet. As far as anyone at the event is concerned, she’s a date, yet there has never been a HINT of her being more than a date that carried a gun. A few slightly inebriated clients have tried, but she politely and firmly says that if they want that kind of escort, she can give them a number to call — case closed.

Alexandra is a very straight-arrow person. She doesn’t cheat on her taxes, park illegally, etc. She also volunteers to help with security for any charity function that strikes her interest but might not be able to afford proper security. She definitely believes in giving back to the community. She's probably the nicest person any Covert Ops agent has ever met. While not an official member of Covert Ops, when an agent needs extra protection, Alex is usually the person they call.