Rosalie Curzon, a Washington, D.C., call girl, is found bludgeoned to death in her Adams-Morgan apartment. The murder scene is in a disturbing state of disarray, suggesting that Rosalie had fought to the bitter end. The cops discover a video camera nestled high on a bookshelf. Had the victim taped some of her clients during their sexual liaisons? As the investigation proceeds, so does business inside the Beltway. President Burton Pyle is running for reelection. His opponent, consummate politician Robert Colgate, is expected to easily defeat Pyle, whose administration has been rife with corruption and scandal. Colgate, though, is not without cracks in his slick exterior. Rumors swirl about his failing marriage and various dalliances. Moreover, therea (TM)s no love lost between the two candidates: The campaign has morphed into one of the most distasteful and nasty in memory. Then, on a bright Saturday afternoon on the Washington Mall, the daughter of Colgatea (TM)s closest friend is kidnapped. The abduction rocks the nationa (TM)s capital, but no one is prepared for the bombshell about to hit the city, an explosive development that erupts when the police uncover a shocking connection between the kidnapping and the Curzon case a " and a killer whom no one will see coming.