Ransom X

Martin Legacy is a former special-ops standout, once recognized as the top field interrogator in the American military complex. His study of the human mind was carried out in make-shift tents on the edge of the battlefield; he didn’t write or read the book on how to break a prisoner, he simply followed his instincts, dissecting human behavior. He had a reputation for getting anything out of anyone - “had” being the operative word. Five years ago, a random crime shattered Legacy’s world. Withdrawing inside himself, he built his life around the only family he had left, his teenage daughter. He withdrew from operations, and took the most isolated post he could, in the basement of the Alexandria FBI, working the archives. Legacy brought consequence to the job. His tactics of getting inside the minds of criminals led to a controversial new form of investigation that came to be known as "shadow projection". It was a term coined by his insufferable regional director, Bailey, and Legacy couldn’t begin to count the ways he hated the simplification of his process. Legacy threw the deductive model out the window. He didn’t follow the trail of the criminal; he took on criminals who were smart enough to leave no trail. They were fixed objects like sundials casting a unique shadow for every incremental step in their journey. His methods involved knowing the inner workings of the criminal, and projecting forward to the next activity that such a person would engage in. His life was verging on stable when a young female agent from Washington walked into his office with an opportunity, an obligation, and a threat. Now, normally Legacy would have ignored all three, but there was something about the case and the victim that struck a very personal chord in him.