Tom is a nasty piece of work. Raised by his uncle, who was a child abuser, Tom's main belief is in pure physical power. Although he can hold and shoot a gun, his specialty is martial arts -- he's got a level five focussed combat in them, and has dermal plating protection under his skin (implanted by Heaven Sent Inc.). He was good enough to take Ranith down to near-unconciousness in hand-to-hand. A true mercenary, Tom WILL work for whoever pays him enough.
When hired on to deliver a gun to a youth, who was to shoot someone at that location, and then told Tom was also to rough the youth up, Tom, irritated at having lost the right to make the shot himself, decided to rape the youth as a part of the deal. That youth was Third, who was just barely stopped by the party from shooting Tom later.
Tom had no idea he was being set up to be blamed for the Sensei's death, and he's now in heavy-security prison thanks to Ranith's requesting Jeanice alter his processing codes.