Brian Peterson is a freelance troubleshooter.
Technically, he is a lobbyist, licensed as such to be able to operate as he wishes in the nation's capitol. More truthfully, he is a man capable of helping those in power and in trouble out of the latter quietly enough to preserve the former.
His history is a sad one. Having been in the Intelligence field for a considerable amount of time, he had retired from that business to become a mildly successful lobbyist very happily married with a young daughter. He also had a Senator as a father-in-law. Then one unfortunate day while helping the Senator pack up his office after having lost his seat, Peterson received a call telling him his wife and daughter had been killed in a car accident by two joy-riding teenagers.
Devastated, he escaped to Key West where for six months he lived inside any bottle that would have him. Eventually the Senator found him and helped him dry out. For wont of anything better to do, Peterson returned to the capital and his old business.
It was then that he was asked by a client to help him out of a sticky situation. Peterson did and the matter was hushed up. Still, another small but indiscreet matter came to his attention and again he handled it with decorum. Soon his name was whispered as the man to see if you needed anonymous help. His lobbying business suffered but his trouble-shooting sideline blossomed.
Peterson is now the man the power-movers call when officially they can or should call no one. His connections in the cloak-and-dagger field are useful in many ways as are the favors others owe him. Predictably, however, those he helps the most, the truly powerful, tend to say thanks, pay his bill, and try to forget they know him. Such is the price for being too good at your job.