Joe Pike is Elvis Cole's partner in his detective agency. Pike is an ex-Marine who served in Vietnam. He owns a gun shop and also works as a mercenary in third-world countries. Pike is interested in death and in guns. He is very reserved and seldom speaks. He has tattoos of arrows on his shoulders to remind himself to always move forward and he has no compunction against killing those who he perceives as enemies. Pike likes Ellen and teaches her to shoot. He also decorates Ellen's face with "war paint" of lipstick so that the battle at Duran's house will seem surreal and be easier to forget.