chapter 4

Ian learned so much about Jake in the first few days, but he was not the easiest of chaps to keep up with. He thought he was fit, but keeping Jake in sight when he was out for his daily run proved to be difficult. It was not just the speed, it was the distance as well. The first day, Ian struggled to keep up. The next day he was aching all over and took several short cuts, but still fell behind. By the end of the week, Ian knew the routine and let him go. Nothing interesting happened except for the number of miles he clocked up at speed.
Ian came to one conclusion. Trudy was going to have one chance. If Jake got away no one was swift enough to catch him.
On that first day, he was surprised when Jake had gone to the theatre in the early afternoon. He watched that stage door all afternoon and all evening. He did not emerge until late at night, then headed to the club. It was significantly late. Most restaurants would be getting ready to close. Ian concluded, he did not go to the club with the intention of picking up a girl. He went there to get something to eat!
The next day was the same, but this time, he bought a ticket at the box office to watch the show. He bought a programme, which had a good bit of background information about him.
Ian was exhausted, looking forward to a weekend of relaxation. But it didn't happen. Weekends were exactly the same as a weekday. Indeed, there was a matinee on Saturday, so he got to the theatre extra early. He added it up. Nine performances a week. Seven days a week since the premiere, seven moths ago. That took some stamina! It was about time he had a little holiday!
All week, Ian planned, replanned and adjusted their meeting.
Jake was short of cash, so money had to be the incentive. Breaking up the daily routine was the key, but that would not be easy at all.
Ian had contacts with some seedy characters from the criminal underworld. Contacts he'd made when studying from his criminology degree. It only took a few phone calls and Ian procured a reliable source of zoom and other illegal substances. He bought as much as he could from the source in one meeting.
He had to watch him carefully for the opportunity to spike his water bottle with a small amount of zoom.
Ian watched as the drug took effect. It made very little impact, other than keeping him awake for an extra few hours.
Ian spiked his drink at the club covertly every night until Jake was completely wired... and hooked!