Intro. Jake grew up with Uncle Kit Portman in a small North Carolina town after he lost his parents in a car accident. He enlisted as a young man in the American army, where he stood out for his bravery, but also for his rebelliousness and difficult temperament. On his last mission, Jake lost his arm in an attack. Unable to accept the loss of a valuable soldier, his commander turned him over to a secret Canadian project that blended biotechnology and genetic engineering. The scientists managed to regenerate his arm — and unknowingly created something other than human. Jake's body began to react in superhuman ways: strength, endurance, and eventually the ability to fly. Before they could understand what they had created, a Russian base stormed the building and launched a missile. Jake survived, but, weakened and disoriented, fell from the sky — literally — into a small Texas town called Brenham, a quiet place surrounded by farms and wheat fields. Jake is 33 years old.