Quest (Q) Munoz: Q is thirteen and wants to be a famous magician when he grows up. His idol is the great magician Harry Houdini. Q is ambivalent about school, but gets As in math and writing. He is seriously opposed to his new stepfather’s vegetarianism and sneaks junk food at any opportunity. Tall with blond hair, he dresses the same way almost every day, usually in some variation of cargo pants or cargo shorts and a polo or T-shirt.
When Q is nervous, he shuffles cards and practices card tricks. It helps him relax and concentrate. He has a complicated relationship with his biological father, Speed Paulsen. Q is prone to premonitions, occasionally feeling that something bad is about to happen. He calls these feelings “the itch.” The itch proves useful to Q and Angela on more than one occasion.
Angela Tucker: Angela, fifteen, has shoulder-length black hair with bangs, and olive skin. She has dark brown eyes and, upon first meeting her, Q thinks she is thin and a little frail-looking. But Angela is anything but frail. She wants to be a Secret Service agent like her mother, Malak Tucker, who died in the line of duty. Angela is smart, observant, and highly organized.
Angela always carries a small tattered backpack, in which she keeps extra hats, sunglasses, and other items that help her disguise her appearance when she practices her countersurveillance techniques and tradecraft (a term spies and agents use that refers to the techniques of trailing a suspect, eluding a tail, and other methods they use in performing their duties). Angela keeps her desire to be an agent secret from her father, Roger, who would not approve.
Blaze Munoz and Roger Tucker: Q’s mom and Angela’s dad have recently married. They are musicians and perform together as the duet Match. After marrying in a ceremony in San Francisco, they take Q and Angela on tour with them across the country.
Tyrone Boone: Boone is an old roadie (someone who travels with musicians and musical acts, performing all kinds of tasks on a tour). Boone is in charge of tour security and keeps an eye on Q and Angela. He travels with his very old, nearly toothless, and quite smelly dog, Croc. Boone is a former NOC (No Official Cover) agent for the CIA. He now uses a network of former spies to run “off-the-books” or unofficial operations.
Malak Tucker: Angela’s mother and a United States Secret Service agent.
Eben Lavi: A rogue Mossad agent. (Mossad is roughly the Israeli equivalent of the CIA.) Eben is tracking a terrorist he believes is responsible for his brother’s death. He believes the assassin known as “the Leopard” has a connection to Angela.
Ziv: The mysterious Ziv is a NOC agent for Mossad.
Buddy T.: Buddy T. is Blaze and Roger’s manager. Though he is obnoxious and offensive in practically every way, he’s still one of the most successful managers in the music business. Roger jokes that the “T” stands for “To-Do,” because when Buddy talks he sounds like he’s giving everyone a “to-do” list.
Dirk Peski: Dirk is nicknamed “the Paparazzi Prince” because he takes photos of the rich and famous and sells them to tabloid newspapers and gossip websites. Dirk is one of Ziv’s operatives, or agents.
J. R. Culpepper: J.R. is the president of the United States, or POTUS, as he is referred to by the Secret Service. Before being elected president he served in the U.S. Senate, was vice president, and was director of the CIA.
Marie and Art: Marie and Art are Roger and Blaze’s personal assistants, or PAs. Buddy T. thinks that he hired them but in fact they are highly trained agents and bodyguards working for Boone.
Heather Hughes: Heather is the president of a record company and responsible in large part for putting Match back on the charts. She knows Boone well from all her years in the music industry. Mostly her job appears to be keeping Buddy T. mollified and out of everyone’s way.
P.K.: P.K. is short for President’s Kid, the Secret Service code name for Willingham Culpepper, son of J. R. Culpepper. P.K. is ten years old, but smarter than most and wise beyond his years. He knows the location of many of the secret passages in the White House and has a Secret Service radio, which he uses to keep tabs on the agents so that he can practice eluding them.
Bethany Culpepper: J.R. is widowed and his daughter, Bethany, takes on the role of first lady.
Speed Paulsen: Q’s biological father. Speed is a rock star and loves to play the part. He earned the nickname Speed because he could pick guitar faster than anyone alive. It’s been a while since Speed has had any hit songs and he is jealous of his ex-wife’s sudden, newfound success. Speed is annoying, hapless, confused, in and out of rehab, but at the same time strangely likeable.
Agents Charlie Norton and Pat Callaghan: Secret Service agents whom J.R. assigns to Boone’s team. Both men are capable, trustworthy, and devoted to J.R. and his family.
The SOS team: A group of Boone’s most trusted operatives. SOS stands for “Some Old Spooks.” The team consists of:
X-Ray: The technical genius. He spends most of his time in a beat-up old van the team calls the “intellimobile.” There is no computer system and no database or piece of electronic equipment X-Ray cannot hack, master, construct, or duplicate.
Vanessa: The team’s designated “world’s deadliest old broad.” She is a master knife thrower, and Boone refers to her as a “human lie detector” due to her ability to read people and determine if they are telling the truth. Vanessa is also an exceptional driver and adept at tailing suspects without being noticed.
Felix and Uly: Formal Special Forces operatives. Given their size (both are nearly six feet eight inches tall) and matching buzz cuts, they could easily be mistaken for brothers. Their strength, expertise in hand-to-hand combat, and knowledge of nearly every type of weapon imaginable make them invaluable members of Boone’s squad.