John Trent

John Trent, known as Sheppard, is a former Belltower operative turned illegal arms dealer.

Biography
Prior to 2027, Trent was employed as a Belltower spec ops strike team commander stationed aboard Rifleman Bank Station. After Belltower's scandal concerning the illegal experiments conducted at the station broke out, Trent and his crew left Belltower to train terrorists and deal in illegal arms and augmentations. Trent is described by Jim Miller as being ruthless with a disregard for civilian casualties.

Sometime in 2029, the Illuminati are utilizing Trent and his group to smuggle military-grade augmentations manufactured by Sarif Industries out of Detroit, the augmentations being relevant to certain unspecified Illuminati activities in Europe. Although Trent and his group are being utilized by the Illuminati, a member of Trent's group remarks that they are "more like independent contractors."

At the time, Christian Jarreau, commander of Task Force 29's North American Division Alpha team, has been assigned to track down Trent as part of an ongoing operation against arms trafficking. With information from Jim Miller, Jarreau's team intercepts Trent and his group in the process of shipping the augmentations out of the city using a cargo jet. As the cargo jet is taking off, Adam Jensen, who had recently been taken into the custody of Task Force 29 and was brought to the operation as an observer, succeeds in releasing the plane's cargo module, causing the augmentations to be dropped from the plane. The cargo jet, with Trent on board, flees for the Canadian border. Due to Trent's failure to extract the augmentations out of Detroit, and a failed subsequent attempt by the Illuminati to recover the augmentations, the Illuminati are forced to look to other suppliers.

Later in 2029, TF29 gets another chance to go after Trent as Trent heads to Dubai to sell high grade augmentations and weapons to the Jinn cartel. Trent had made an arrangement to meet with Jinn member Arun Singh, who is an undercover TF29 agent. TF29's Central European Division arrives in Dubai, ready to capture Trent. Before they can do so, however, Trent is killed by a group of gold-mask mercenaries.