Jonathan Grave is a security specialist.
Running a very successful company whose primary goal was securing the offices and homes of corporate America, Grave had over the past decade made a good name for his firm, preferring to stay out of the limelight totally. This anonymity was vital for his other sideline, running a company called Security Solutions which is the main occupation he has devoted his energies towards. This second job is one of hostage rescue. If the situation is critical and local law enforcement is either not available, unwilling, untrustworthy, or in the case of several foreign assignments, the source of the problem, it is Security Solutions that gets the hush-hush call for help. His fees are not for the weak-hearted, usually starting at $250,000 plus expenses, but his success rate is laudable and his discretion absolute.
Helping him in his work is the beautiful Venice, pronounced ve-NEE-shay and regrets to those who get it wrong the second time, a woman in her late 20's who is a whiz at computers and anything electrical. Though she usually remains at the office during missions, she is vital enough with her quick mind and quicker fingers on the keyboard to give her the nickname of "Mother", a name she does not particularly like.
Joining Jonathan in the field providing pilot services for whatever craft might be needed is Boxers, a 6'5, 250 lb. behemoth who usually does not talk much but when he does, it pays to listen. Boxers and Grave have been close friends for many years and the bond is strong. Grave might be the boss but he is also a friend.
Grave was not always the character's last name. Born Jonathan Gravenow, he was raised in a mansion along the Potomac in the small town of Fisherman's Cove, the son of a very wealthy and very corrupt businessman, to the public, and crime-boss, to the informed. When his father realized that his days of freedom were coming to an end courtesy of the justice system, he passed most of his wealth to his son, a man who had very little love for the crook and absolutely no desire to continue the family business.
Turning his back on the life of crime his father had lived, Grave converted his mansion into a boarding school known as Resurrection House, offering a chance to children of incarcerated parents. If these kids had no where else to turn and would likely end up on the streets or in jail themselves, the foundation would be there. It is for the continued operations of this charity that the proceeds of Grave's clandestine activities go.
Grave is not a spy. He is a highly trained former Special Forces officer who saw action during the First Gulf War and other places but his experiences with the Intelligence community is, for him, thankfully slim. He is on a first-name basis with the female Director of the FBI, having done work for that Bureau on several occations, but he has no desire to become part of the Establishment. That world had enabled and encouraged his father to take a dark path and he is determined to not follow.
That does not mean, though, that he does not belong in this collection. Grave is willing to break a law or two himself when he is on a mission and he does not let the powerful get off anymore than he would a low-life kidnapper. Since the ultimate culprits in several of the adventures that Grave has have enjoyed positions of great power in governments, he knows intrigue.