Ted Bell was the chairman of the board and creative director of Young & Rubicam, one of the world's largest advertising agencies. He was also the New York Times bestselling author of the Alex Hawke series as well as the YA adventure novels Nick of Time and The Time Pirate. He passed away in January 2023.

Ryan Steck is the author of Fields of Fire, Lethal Range, Redd Christmas, and Out for Blood. He is also a freelance editor, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Real Book Spy, and he was named an online influencer by Amazon. Praised as "one of the hardest-working and fairest reviewers out there" by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Steck has "quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers" (author A. J. Tata). He lives in Michigan.