The air was becoming extremely stale and the heat nearly unbearable in the back of the Ford Expedition. The only saving grace was that the van was in a parking garage and out of the direct July sun.
Jake sat in front of an array of sophisticated surveillance and computer equipment built into neat folding desks in the back of the expensive SUV. Despite the heat, his attention never wavered from the video monitors and the headset providing constant audio from his target.
The target, a tall, beautiful and voluptuous brunette in her mid forties had entered the apartment building a little more than two hours ago. So far, even though Jake could tell that the woman was having sex with the man in the apartment from the sounds he was hearing, he had yet to have an opportunity to capture the crucial video or photographic evidence he needed to make the case for his client.
Jake's client, a high powered attorney to key political figures in Washington D.C. had sought out Jake's services as one of the most effective private investigators in the country. The attorney had deep pockets and was more than willing to part with several thousands of dollars for Jake's fees than he was willing to share his financial assets with his cheating wife.
The target had been to this apartment on several other occasions, so Jake knew where she went, who the paramour was and what he needed to do to catch them. Jake also understood that in this particular case, it was more important to get "the goods" on the paramour (in layman terms, the other man) than it was to get court approved evidence on the attorney's wife. That is because the other man involved in the adulterous relationship was none other than Senator Rubin Scott.
Once Jake had learned the identity of the other man, he had sat down with his client and discussed a strategy. The client had originally planned on obtaining substantial "legal" evidence to prove adultery in court and to give the client a distinct advantage in keeping his assets intact, including the three million dollar home overlooking the Potomac River.
However, once the other man was identified, it offered a windfall of potential. Senator Scott not only had his political career to consider, but was also married. His wife, the lovely Jessica Scott was a high profile figure in her own right and was as much at home in the power circles as her elected husband. It was apparent that if Jake was able to get video and photographic evidence on the good Senator, then enough pressure could be applied to make the client's problems go away.
The Senator, they figured, would be more than willing to reach deep into his own pockets and payoff the client's wife to go away and leave both the Senator and the client alone forever. So, the plan was born.
For this assignment, Jake left all the legal and yes ethical rules of investigation behind and pulled out the stops on his talent and resources. After substantially raising the fees he was charging his client, Jake had enlisted the assistance of his old partner TC Jackson. Jake and TC had for several years handled sophisticated covert operations for Fortune 100 corporations. Together they had a wealth of surveillance, counter surveillance, personal protection and defensive tactics experience.
Twenty six days after first receiving the assignment, TC and Jake had disabled the Senators alarm system and breached the apartment. While inside, they had installed numerous hidden microphones and three well placed high resolution cameras. The problem was that the Senator always managed to screw the target in a position that was just out of sight of the cameras. It was as if he knew the exact camera angles.
The frustration was building for Jake and the client was beginning to get agitated at the time and expense of the investigation.
The next day, Jake was Small mouth Bass fishing in the Rappahannock River down near Fredericksburg, when an idea struck him. The idea would be off the charts for most people, but for Jake... well it was exciting and it would solve the client's problems.
