Stone is an ex-Green Beret and a former member of the esteemed and fictional "Triple Six" division of the CIA that was composed of highly skilled government assassins.
A West Point graduate and Vietnam vet, Reuben worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency but quit and became a war protester.
After a few years of drug usage in England, Rhodes returned to the States, where he met Stone, who got him a job unloading trucks.
As is shown in Stone Cold, Farb's gifts allow him to win extremely high amounts of money at casino games, such as blackjack.
A Secret Service agent, Ford helps the group in the first book, The Camel Club, as they try to uncover a conspiracy that involves the kidnapping of President James H. Brennan and a captured Muslim terrorist.
Conroy was briefly married (annulled) to Jonathan DeHaven, the director of the Rare Book Room at the Library of Congress.
DeHaven's house was found to be the hiding place for a first edition of the Bay Psalm Book, which was later revealed to have been stolen by Conroy.