Art Jefferson (Simple Simon)

Art Jefferson is the main protagonist of the Simple Simon universe, and is one of the best friends of Simon Lynch. He was the A-SAC of the Los Angeles FBI office before 1996, but after a heart attack, he became A-SAC of the Chicago field office, alongside SAC Bob Lomax. After hearing of Martin and Jean Lynch's deaths at the hands of Mike Bell, and seeing the trauma that their deaths had caused Simon, Jefferson immediately took the boy in and befriended him. He and Simon were forced to run from the FBI, NSA, Chicago PD, and Keiko Kimura after looking through Simon's house at 2365 Vincent Court. They stayed at a hotel near O'Hare International for a night, until he made a housing arrangement with Pooks Underhill and other arrangements with his friend Nelson Van Horn to get Simon into Witness Protection. He escorted Simon to the Sears Tower, where Pritchard took Simon in a helicopter over Lake Michigan, at which point he and Shaun Koster ditched it after parachuting out with Simon strapped into Pritchard's parachute. Jefferson said what he thought was his final goodbye to Simon after the boy got foster parents and status in the Witness Protection Program about a month later. But, their journey together had only started.