Character Profile: George Black

Bill Collins' superior in the A.T.F. Chicago office, George Black is, in fact, part of a gun-running operation which he co-ran with Edward Haints, an Illinois assemblyman running for mayor in Chicago under a gun-control platform. It was Black who had contracted Natasha Radinov to kill Jonathan Washington, the only witness to the operation, for which he provided her with a cardkey with Collins' ID (in order to force Collins to close down his investigation), as well as killing Rally and May for helping Collins. He also supplied Radinov with the use of a supposedly shut-down A.T.F. safehouse for her to stay in, using Black's own access code.

But after the first attempt to kill Rally went awry, Black filed a sudden vacation leave and decided to flee the country. He proceeded to the safehouse where he knew Radinov was. When he got there, he discovered that his partner Haints was talking to Radinov on the phone - with Radinov aiming a Welrod suppressed pistol at him! Realizing he'd been double-crossed by his own partner, he tried to persuade Radinov to tell Haints not to kill him, but to no avail. Radinov shoots him, once in the chest and once in the head.

The safehouse, as well as Black's body, was destroyed in a bomb blast when Jodi and Collins went to investigate it when Black's access information was discovered. Jodi was killed when he triggered the booby-trapped phone, but Collins barely survived – and while still injured went to Grant Park to warn Rally that Radinov was after her.