Diandra Marie Weiss, Ph.D        Peter James Vorhees (Dutch)        Geoffrey Alan Duffin (Skip)
       
Ebrahim Hasim Zahed (Sam)        Lilne        Cardinal Joshua James McIntyre        Robert Lee Tanner
       
Zoe Annette Young        Joaquim Navarro        Shadow Man        Dr. Everett Jones
       
Mary Jean Sutton-Weiss        Cardinal Giovanni Ricardo Assanti      Jeffrey Patrick Steinberg
     
Michael Cantwell        Zecharia Standhead, PhD

Diandra Marie Weiss, Ph.D.

Sleek, beautiful and quick-witted, Diandra possesses an electrifying intelligence combined with an unwavering dedication to the truth. Reminiscent of a Katherine Hepburn type character, she is gutsy yet feminine. A forensic archeologist, Diandra is familiar with most of the world’s 21st century archeological data. This allows her almost to instantly identify and date any pottery shard, tablet fragment or location from which objects originated. What she can’t date instinctively, she can figure out through her considerable forensic skills.

Diandra worked for the New York Museum of Natural History for the previous twelve years, coordinating their worldwide archeological digs and research. Unfortunately, that all ended when it was revealed that she was the mysterious author of ‘Unexplained Archeology’ under the pseudonym of Karen Sue Lanier.  The controversial best-selling book challenged and questioned her colleagues’ traditional beliefs. The reason she did it? Her insatiable quest for the truth.
Raised by her mother Katherine, Diandra never knew her father, who mysteriously disappeared when she was a baby. She still harbors that little girl’s hope that someday he’ll show up in her life. Working her way through college in various odd jobs, she did whatever it took to continue her studies. Her perseverance was rewarded by graduating Summa cum Laude.

At forty, her only serious relationship, which started as a friendship when they were teenagers, ended in a seven-year marriage with Peter Vorhees. Although currently avoiding the issue and the divorce papers gathering dust, it is obvious the chemistry between them is alive and well – and impossible to ignore. Most especially by them!

Although a perfect team when focused upon work, they are like oil and water the rest of the time; helping to explain why they were trying to keep an ocean, even a continent or two, between them.

A perfectionist by nature, Diandra relies extensively on hard science for answers. Now, for the first time in her life she starts to experience ‘sensations’ when she touches certain ancient artifacts.  This is intensely disturbing both to her atheism and skepticism of the paranormal; yet she finds she is unable to stop these ‘visions’.

Peter James Vorhees (Dutch)

Lean and tall with a hard kind of grace, Dutch, is a dangerously handsome rogue.  When you take away his travel-stained bomber jacket and decades-old Levi’s, he could fit in almost anywhere -- including a black-tie diplomatic cocktail party.

Born into affluence on his mother’s side in West Virginia, he’s been graced with Southern charm and intelligence. His family’s wish was for him to become a corporate attorney or state senator, like his grandfather, certainly not the next millennium’s Indiana Jones. His father, an air force general working within the Pentagon, was a career officer who worked himself up through the ranks. Dutch’s early childhood was a hodgepodge of military bases and countries which made it hard to have friends. Luckily, he had his younger brother Patrick. They were inseparable best buddies.

Following his junior year of high school, Dutch took a summer job sorting bones at the La Brea tar pits and met Diandra Weiss. An instant and mutual crush was the result. That relationship was put on hold, however, when his life’s direction changed dramatically by a tragic accident in which his brother died, an accident for which he still blames himself. Dutch escaped his grief and guilt with a quick enlistment in the Army followed by re-enlistments totaling more than eight years.

After his release from duty, he married Diandra, who had faithfully waited for him to work through his personal hell.  Dutch’s on-and-off  marriage to Diandra was his attempt to integrate into the mainstream of society. It didn’t work. Now, although separated for years, he can’t seem to be found by process servers to sign the divorce papers. And it is obvious, once back together,  he doesn’t really want to.

Why was he so hard for the divorce process servers to find? Could be he was still an independent contractor for various government alphabet agencies utilizing skills learned while a Commander in Special Forces. It could also be because he gets into drinking bouts once in a while and disappears into discreet out of the way dives to work them off.

His ability to charm everyone he meets, coupled with a slight tinge of arrogance and insistence on always being right, causes Diandra to consider him a narcissist. The unconscious truth is that he uses this as a protection against getting too close to people, of being abandoned again as he was when his brother died. He is fully capable of empathy and being a team player, qualities he learned in the service, but when expedience is needed and danger is involved, his rigidity kicks in and it is either his way or the highway.

His great sense of humor, love of adventure and personal charm are part of Diandra’s attraction to Dutch. His self-pontification and cynicism grate her like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Geoffrey Alan Duffin (Skip)

Skip is the archetypical skeptic, pure and simple. If he can’t see it, feel it or touch, it just doesn’t exist. A cryptographer by profession in his mid-sixties, the discipline of being a code breaker equips him well as a computer whiz and hacker extraordinaire. Skip is in love with hi-tech anything and the magic of science. Yet despite this love affair with modern magic, or perhaps because of it, he vehemently denies the possibility of any other kind of magic. It is as if, having professed his loyalty (or sold his soul) to science, he will neither entertain nor accept other realms of knowledge.

Skip is exacting in his thinking and meticulously clean in his environment. Bugs, as he calls them, which range from bacteria and six-legged crawlies to computer programming glitches, are to be exterminated, not tolerated. He prides himself on keeping his environment clean and pristine and will not allow anyone to touch or interfere with ‘mission control’ areas he sets up for their assignments. He picked up these compulsive quirks while working thirty years in England’s most secretive counter intelligence agency, the MI6. It was a running joke in the agency that Skip and ‘Q’ from the James bond movies were cut from the same cloth. 

Skip appreciates the greater number of stars in a hotel’s rating and enthusiastically indulges in haute cuisine as well as innumerable cups of esoterically grown and blended tea per day. Indeed, Skip tends to stay out of the fieldwork, instead declaring his innumerable talents should be used to monitor and help the Seekers from afar, in effect becoming their lifeline. This, in fact, often saves their lives.

Skip is also the most physically and temperamentally timid of the Seekers’ team; a warrior on the Internet, a coward in the field. His only weapons? Antibacterial wipes, bug sprays, and a computer keyboard. He’s short -tempered, acerbic and sarcastic – a confirmation of his true British heritage.

Skip considers himself to be both older and wiser than his cohorts, implying that he can provide counseling to the younger ‘children,’ especially in matters of the heart.  The rest of them are well aware, however, that this wisdom is belied by the fact that he has a lousy track record of five ex-wives. Nevertheless, this doesn’t stop Skip from dispensing his intellectual… and theoretical advice.

One more tidbit: Skip secretly writes poetry.

Ebrahim Hasim Zahed (Sam)
‘The Kid’ as Dutch calls him, a sarcastic endearment that annoys him no end, is a mid-twenty-something Luke Skywalker; young, eager and romantic… especially where Diandra is concerned.

Escaping from Iran in 1990 to live with his uncle in New York after conditions proved too difficult for his family there under Khomeini, Sam lacked friends his own age. Always intellectually ahead of other boys in school, he excelled academically, speaks over a dozen languages, and graduated from a special program through MIT at sixteen. In college, he picked up a money-spending habit playing poker and blackjack at the Indian casinos in Connecticut and online.

Sam has grown to despise what his native country has become in the eyes of the world and as a result, has morphed into the ultimate all-American kid. He loves anything to do with the American dream, from McDonalds Big Macs and hot dogs at ballparks to the latest in video games. In cutting himself off from his own culture, he has rejected everything un-American. This sometimes puts him in the uncomfortable psychological place of hating some aspects of himself that he can’t control, like his Persian looks.

Long ago Sam developed two predominate quirks: his vast ability to recall facts and a resulting eagerness to argue any subject to death. He is pleasantly aware that this drives Dutch crazy and he uses his ability judiciously. He also has the uncanny ability to pick up languages quickly, an asset which helps the Seekers on more than one occasion.

 Sam has spent the past couple of summers working with Diandra as an historian of ancient languages. His guarded feelings of loss for his own family in Iran, coupled with a yearning for close family connections, colors his personality with a certain vulnerability and sensitivity which Diandra finds sweet and attractive, and qualities which are deeply buried within Dutch. But that is all she feels for Sam. 

Sam, on the other hand, harbors more. However, her words and actions clearly indicate both that Sam is too young and that her care for him is in the motherly/friendly category, a frustrating situation he is not entirely resolved to accept.

Lilne

The leader of the Guardians and the true power behind the Council of Elders, he is almost a law unto himself. A man of unknown age with chiseled features and steel grey, piercing eyes, he possesses enormous power and seemingly unlimited resources. He has sworn to stop the Seekers personally and recover the Sacred Book stolen by Brother McIntyre. He trusts no one.

Although it is unclear who or even what Lilne is, we learn that his plans are more ancient, dark and sinister than anything we could have imagined – always seeming to know much more than he ever reveals outwardly. He is able to contact mercenaries and despots around the world and get them to do his bidding – as if they owe him.

He has little regard for these pathetic humans as he calls them and could be the poster child for a sociopathic personality.

Cardinal Joshua James McIntyre
McIntyre, now in his early fifties, was a member of the Guardians who decided after a crisis of conscious and questioning his feelings of love and confusion for a woman he has known since childhood, to surreptitiously take action and help expose some of their deepest, darkest secrets. Assisted by Cardinal Assanti, he was the Deep Throat to Diandra in her writing the book, “Unexplained Archeology.” 

The Guardians discover this help and McIntyre is forced to flee for his life – taking along some ancient artifacts and the Book of Knowledge: a chronicle of the Guardians’ history and a complete listing of contents within the secret catacombs deep within the Vatican and various Monasteries.

Unable to contact family and friends, he becomes a world nomad. Constantly fearing being caught by the Guardian’s operatives, he learns he can trust no one. However, because of his previous relationship with Diandra, he seeks her out and contacts the Seekers, helping them at various times when he can.

Robert Lee Tanner

A truly affable man who, through sheer will of strength and unwavering tenacity, has managed to continue the family’s privately held business, Turner Worldwide, LLC, and amass one of the world’s largest fortunes. He has quietly built a network of relationships with world leaders and governments that helped his businesses in mining, oil, gas and electronics in spite of wars and global conflicts.

Along the way he also became one of the world’s largest collectors of antiquities, although not always acquiring these precious artifacts through legitimate channels. The artifacts are housed in private museum warehouses around the world. He also has access to the world’s antiquities he doesn’t own through a subsidiary company that transports these items for museums and private collectors worldwide.

Left a paraplegic after a tragic accident while flying an A-5 in the Marine Corp in the late 1960s, he has overcome many health obstacles and operations. It is unknown if he has any immediate family.

A confirmed and vocal atheist most of his early life, he has no patience for those fools who believed that all of their troubles were the result of good and bad angels battling on their shoulders for a soul as their prize.

However, something changed that attitude: a revelation from a lifelong friend in the Vatican, Cardinal Assanti, upon his deathbed.
Tanner starts a private company with the mission to record all of the world’s knowledge, history and culture. It is called the Archives of Research and Knowledge project, or ARK project for short.

He also funds The Seekers adventures. His only caveat? He must have first access to whatever they find. They are to search anywhere and everywhere for clues that might lead them to discover, first hand from the source, what our ancestors knew and wanted us to learn about. He will help them personally when he can, but in most cases they will be on their own.

Zoe Annette Young
A deceptively beautiful and smart African American woman in her late twenties. Born and raised in Zurich, Switzerland, Zoe’s father was as investment banker for a private holding company. Her mother was as opera singer, born and raised in Ethiopia. Attending private schools all of her life, she was recruited after receiving her second PhD by Tanner Worldwide, a client of her father’s firm. Her relationship with Robert Tanner and job position within the company is unknown.

As the series of books unfold, Zoe will become an integral part of the connection between Robert Tanner and The Seekers and becomes their primary liaison. And Skip has a crush on her.

Joaquim Navarro
A sleazy sweaty little man who pops up at various times in the series, either to attempt to employ Dutch’s talents or become a conduit and source of information between Dutch and Navarro’s decidedly nefarious contacts.

Dutch has known him for fifteen years; yet he is never absolutely sure whether he can trust him. And for good reason. His motives are unclear, and he has the reputation of selling his loyalties to the highest bidder

Shadow Man
An ex-Army Ranger like Dutch. He becomes the chief and most visible adversary to the Seekers; a grim and dangerously dedicated opponent under Lilne’s direct command. A lone and secretive operative, he has tentacles and connections in various worldwide mercenary operations and personnel.

A military incident in China, which involved Dutch and Shadow Man while on a mission together ended with his court marshal and ouster, while Dutch was exonerated of all charges. Shadow Man blames him and wants to even the score.

Dr. Everett Jones
Dr. Jones was a famous archeologist who discovered a significant Holy site in Cozumel, Mexico in 1947. While excavating the site he experienced an epiphanous, illuminating event by an unknown energy force. He instantly became totally aware of all the ancient secrets unknown to any living being except the Guardians. His body and mind were overwhelmed by the enormity and significance of this knowledge; he panicked, dynamited the dig and immediately collapsed into a catatonic state.

Awakening a year later, Dr. Jones’ behavior was so erratic and bizarre that he was considered a danger to others and was unceremoniously committed by the courts into an insane asylum where he was dismissed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He eventually learns to keep quiet, learning to hide his meds in his cheeks.

Dr. Jones knows from the knowledge he received years earlier that it is now the time of the unearthing. He intuitively contacts Diandra. Acting as a kind of mentor and conduit, he periodically provides The Seekers with strange clues, often via his bizarre behavior: speaking in tongues, automatic writing, trance states and drawings.

Mary Jean Sutton-Weiss
Diandra’s mother is an outgoing, strong-willed, outspoken psychic whose family ties include Cajun/Caribbean ancestry. She could be the poster girl for new age ideas and lifestyles. Both smart and attractive, she is quite sure of her own inner self and worth. 

Completely detached from material possessions, she lives a simple life and chose not to remarry while she raised Diandra, having no time for complicated relationships; especially after her husband disappeared following Diandra’s birth. 

Metaphysical nonsense is how Diandra has answered her mother all her life when she tries to imply that Diandra, too, has the gift of intuition and psychic abilities. Diandra’s god is science. However, after the first book, she is not so sure.

Mary Jean wishes nothing but happiness for her daughter and can’t resist any opportunity to give her daughter any sage advice she thinks will help her, including what a mistake it was for her to marry that testosterone-driven and reckless Dutch.

Even though Diandra doesn’t always appreciate the advice, she has a great deal of love and respect for her mother’s intuitive abilities and self-learned knowledge of ancient history and folklore – areas Diandra has purposely not studied. Occasionally, Diandra will reluctantly seek her alternative interpretations of artifacts and sites the Seekers have uncovered.

Her Mother’s example of a contrarian and questioning attitude helped inspire Diandra to write her book, “Unexplained Archeology.”.

Cardinal Giovanni Ricardo Assanti
Born and raised in Assisi Italy, he has been dedicated to the church since he was five years old. After graduation from seminary, he started working immediately for the Vatican in various capacities including archival services within the catacombs.

Years later he was brought into the Vatican Council II and became a special liaison to the Pope. Although given no official title for this charge, he has reached out to several major news organizations and is the go-to person for questions regarding matters of extraterrestrial life and the position of such a possibility within the church.

He has had run-ins with and is aware of Lilne and his shadowy connections within the church and has been quietly trying to find out what Lilne and his cohorts are doing.

Jeffrey Patrick Steinberg
Raised in New York, he started repairing broken appliances discarded by neighbors at the age of ten. He excelled at school and by the time he was fifteen, his IQ was unable to be measured while at Princeton. 

Jeffrey attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was in the forefront of computers and more specifically the creation of the internet.

He holds over two dozen primary patents in computer technology and is the creator of SDR, an emergent pattern recognition program that is decades ahead of current technology.

Jeff set up and created the entire ARK project and uses part of his time to manage the internal IT computer functions of Tanner Worldwide, LLC.

Michael Cantwell
Mike is head of worldwide security for Tanner Worldwide, LLC.  He originally started his career as a paramedic and fireman. He was then transferred to a local police department where he served for ten years before a devastating car accident rendered him bed-ridden for three years. Michael went back to college, secured a Master’s Degree in law enforcement and started a personal protection agency for corporate leaders and celebrities. He also worked with Secret Service and government agencies to provide security for many high profile politicians and world leaders.

Recruited in 2001 to set up security systems in all facilities, he is also in charge of personnel security and the procurement of security services from outside vendors, which includes hiring former CIA, FBI, MI6 and Russian intelligence agencies.

Zecharia Standhead, PhD
Escaping Russia with his family, he immigrated to Israel where he excelled in school and became an expert in several different ancient languages. He started writing a series of books in the 1970s questioning the present understanding of historical myths and cosmologies. He died in 2010.  Diandra knew him for ten years before his death.

He appears in flashbacks throughout the series of books.