Don't judge a book by its cover
When we got back to the office we were a whole new team.
Neal and Charlie went to one end of the room where they climbed into a couple of computers. Together they went to work on their tagged information, tracking their hacker/s, and using Charlie's math to find what all was taken. No one else in the room could be of assistance so we went to work on the rest of the case at the other end of the table.
For the first time working with this group, I actually felt like I was one of the team and not some bystander always watching what was going on around me.
As we worked to get information compiled I bounced around the group. For a while I put together reports of what had happened with Sue. Then, I worked with Jack to track down the militaristic connections as we tried to find how Tyrone got his kill squad. Finally, I spent some time with Peter and Don as we worked to compile a file on Tyrone Rex along with all of his connections.
Then I realized why I was suddenly fitting in. I wasn't criticizing them and looking for the faults I imagined to exist due to what my grandfather had always taught me. Instead, I was looking for comfort in understanding what had happened and why, while also seeking to understand how they were handling the situation so well. By trying to understand the group, I was reaching out to them and making connections that they had been offering the entire time. The problem hadn't been that they were working for the FBI, but rather my perspective of them.
That realization caught me by surprise. My grandfather had always taught me to judge people. Now that his beliefs had been proven wrong, I didn't know how to proceed.
Luckily, Neal had some answers for me.
We were in the conference room alone when Neal pulled a chair up beside me. "Why did you think that a deaf person shouldn't be working in the FBI, that geniuses don't know how to make their knowledge apply in the real world, and that a criminal doesn't deserve a second chance?"
I had never told this story to anyone as no one had ever asked me (especially not point blank). It took me a moment to collect my thoughts. Then I told him about my grandfather and how he raised me. When I finished Neal shared his words of wisdom with me.
"So your grandfather judged that criminal on his history. Did he know what his crimes had been or any of the details?" The implications of his question would have wound me up except I knew that he had faced the same opinion with his cover.
Really, I didn't know the answer to that. "Uh… I never thought of that. If he knew I don't remember him telling me."
"Okay, how about the deaf guy. Did anyone invest the time to teach him or was he struggling to make his way on his own?" Apparently his mission was to make me think about how my grandfather got his opinions.
"I get it Neal. I don't remember him ever saying anything about getting to know the people that he criticized." He didn't say anything, just looked at me while waiting for me to figure out his point. There wasn't a wait as I had already figured it out. "Yeah, so I should get to know people before I make my opinion of them."
"It's not that easy. You know why Sue, Charlie, and I ignored your treatment of us?"
I shook my head.
"Because, we deal with prejudices every day. If they aren't in our offices, then we have to deal with the general public who also carry a lot of prejudices. Such thoughts are common and difficult to overcome so your actions were simply something that we have had to learn how to deal with." Leaving me with that food for thought, he seemed to change the subject.
"Now I am going to tell you a story." He went on to tell me about his work in the field and how he ended up in a situation where an agent from his protection team shot him in the back. "Trusting others isn't easy. There are only two agents I fully trust and two teams that I rely on to have my back. Although, I do have to admit that I definitely like our team here, but working together isn't permanent. My point is that you can't be too trusting, but you don't want to judge too quickly either. The balance is to be careful but give people a chance to prove themselves. I guess a good motto would be to 'trust but verify.'"
"Is that how you deal with everything?" It felt odd going to him for advice but it turned out that he is the experienced field agent.
"Yep. I've known my counterpart in my agency since I was eighteen and Peter since I was twenty four. Admittedly my other friend didn't get tested so much as we were just kids thinking our lives would go in 'normal' directions, but I studied Peter for over three years while he was chasing me around the world. They have proved themselves to a point I don't trust anyone else more than them." This was the most real that I had ever seen him. The more I saw him for himself, the more I liked him. He is a really skilled agent with a lot to teach and I was lucky to work with him.
My phone vibrated with a text saying that my presence was requested from another agent so I got up to leave. "Thanks Neal. I'll keep that in mind." He nodded and I left the room.
Walking into the hallway, I found Peter leaning against the wall. It was obvious that he had heard part of the conversation (probably about Neal getting betrayed and shot in the back by his concerned expression and pale coloring) and he was trying to compose himself before walking into the room. I nodded to him and kept walking.
Each day we worked to transfer the case work to the appropriate agency or to task a team to make arrests based on the evidence. As we wrapped up the task force I continued to think about Neal's words.
He had encouraged me to judge each person based on their own merits after gaining a perspective of who they are. The plan was for me to make better choices for myself in the future, to not trust a crooked agent just because they carry a badge and to not miss out on an opportunity at friendship just because someone doesn't fit my opinion of who they should be. I came to the conclusion that Neal was right and I had missed so many opportunities. In the past I had always judged people by their covers while never cracking the pages to see what was inside.
While I was wrapping up my personal reports in the conference room the others decided to talk to me on the subject too.
Jack started the conversation by telling me about how he started working with Sue. Apparently she was trying to speak to personnel only the directory was out of date due to some recent moves. They talked, she learned she was talking to a field agent, and then she left embarrassed. While she walked away Jack had noticed Levi which aroused his curiosity. A few conversations later and some testing of her abilities before she was officially made a part of his team. "If I had simply let her walk away and not allowed my curiosity to get the best of me, I wouldn't be working with one of the best friends that I have ever had. She is deaf, but that gives her an advantage that no one else in the hearing world can compete with."
This started the others into a conversation of how they got started working with their unusual partners.
Don picked up the conversation next with how he started working with his brother. He talked about growing up with a brilliant kid brother who had been talking special classes since he was four. That despite the five year gap in ages, they had graduated on the same day causing personal issues which eventually led to them being somewhat estranged until their mother's death brought them back together. Their working relationship had started with Don struggling to catch a serial rapist turned serial killer. The case wasn't progressing quickly so he took a break at his father's house to freshen up. When he finished, he found his brother was going over the maps of the crime locations and they started talking about what Charlie could find using the map and his math. They started working together and, despite the bumps in the road, they had been able to build a relationship as brothers like they had never had before. "I admit that having my brother exposed to things like this case terrifies me, but the positive side of it all is that we now have the best relationship that we have had in our lives."
Finally, Peter spoke up and told me some things about his opinion of Neal. He told me that Neal's character personality was a childish one who liked to color outside of the legal lines by pulling small cons. While he was globetrotting he spent a great deal of time pulling crimes that showcased his skills in art, social engineering, physical capacity, intelligence, and his ability to evade capture. After Neal was captured he displayed a love of people by putting himself all out to protect his friends, solved cases to look out for victims, and cultivated new relationships around the office. "I haven't had my meeting with Neal so I don't know who he really is or why he is playing such a character, but he has been really good at hiding the agent behind the con. My point is, don't focus on Neal as a representative for CIs as criminals don't tend to be secret agents. However, some turn out to be great contacts and a few even turn out to be potential friends if given the chance."
They each had a point. I watched them working with their best friends and saw the high opinions that they carried for each other. The relationships were all things that they had taken a risk to cultivate. If they hadn't moved past the prejudices against people, they never would have gotten to enjoy the benefits of the friendships.
The task force was the hardest job that I have ever worked. It forced me to reevaluate everything that my grandfather taught me, caused me to face my insignificance, and opened the door to new opportunities. I learned some very important lessons overall.
Three people taught me to never judge a book by its cover. When we met, I saw a deaf woman who was incapable of understanding the world around her, a criminal who would use any opportunity to take advantage of others, and a book smart genius who wouldn't know how to apply his knowledge to the real world. I saw them as inferior, incapable of doing their jobs, and I couldn't imagine giving them a chance to prove themselves. By the time I left I had a whole new perspective.
Sue proved that deaf people aren't defective simply because they can't hear. They have strengths of observations through their other senses that a hearing person could never compete with. In addition, they still have intelligence and skills unique to them that make them irreplaceable. For Sue, she utilized her eyes to see and her sight caught the movements of lips which provided a means of gathering information. When she had the information she processed it with her intelligence to make use of it all. She was the first handy cap person to work in the field for the FBI.
Then Charlie, he may be a professor who spends a great deal of time with his nose in a book, but he also specializes in Applied Mathematics for a reason. His whole profession revolves around the ability to use advanced math to solve problems and, since he can see numbers in everyday life, that allows him to hear the world communicating on a level that most simply can't understand. He worked the case by using numbers in order to reach beyond the obvious and into a level of real life that no one else could accomplish.
Finally, Neal was a prime example of not judging a book by its cover. When the case started, he was working through his character's role as he dripped with charm and personable pleasantries which made him sickening to me. Then when the situation fell apart he risked everything to ensure the safety of those with him, including me despite how I had treated him. This led to me learning that his work is to take down crooked agents while protecting those they endanger no matter the cost to him.
They taught me that although my old fashioned files and police work have their place, their skills made the impossible possible. Without them, we wouldn't have solved the case and I would have been killed in the van. This opened my eyes to the discovery that they were the people who used what made them unique to accomplish things beyond what others could comprehend, that they moved forwards and accomplished new heights. While I simply judged them as different, they were the pioneers of change who made a positive difference in the lives of others.
Eventually we got the case closed and the task force was getting ready to disperse. The last day that we worked together we were talking about what we were going to do.
No one was particularly surprised by the plans of the others as they were mostly going back to work as normal. Peter and Neal didn't really know what was going to happen with them as they were scheduled to have their meeting the next day. My plans on the other hand, were rather surprising.
After working with the task force I had decided that my horizons needed to be broadened. In order to do that, I intended to go work with a similar team based out of DC. They comprise of the FBI agent Seeley Booth and Dr. Temperance Brennan.
Seeley has a history of being a hockey player, military sniper, and a great leader of his team. He had several comparisons to the agents that I had been working with so he would provide me with a means of better understanding them. His partner Dr. Temperance Brennan is a world renowned forensic anthropologist who carries a Sherlockian reputation for being able to read people's bones. When she looks over a skeleton she is able to tell several details about a person right down to their occupation by the markers left behind. The two teamed up to work on a creative means of solving crimes by combining Seeley's field and people skills with Temperance's knowledge and lab skills. Working with them would hopefully provide another means for me to overcome my prejudice and learn to understand people for who they really are.
The others enthusiastically encouraged me in my new endeavor and invited me to visit them anytime a case should bring me around. For Jack and Sue, we would be working in the same building so they invited me to drop in from time to time. As for the others, although we would be stationed in separate cities I was being assigned to a team known to travel so there was always the possibility that I would be in touch.
When we finished our paper work for the day we exchanged contact information, took a group picture, gave our farewells, and shook hands before splitting off to return to our normal lives.
Looking back, that task force is what changed my life and I have promised myself never to forget them. Although our contact is sporadic for most of us, I see Jack and Sue often while the group picture has graced my desk ever since as a permanent reminder to the lessons that they taught me.
A thank you to everybody who has read, reviewed, followed, left kudos, and chosen to favorite. I am glad that you enjoyed this tale as well as my other previous posts. :D
Next week I plan to start into my 'Tales of Twins' story with the brothers Neal and Noah (Bryce). Just a heads up, I do not plan to take prompts and will not guarantee to write any that may be shared (probably couldn't keep up). However, if there is something that you would like to request, keep it clean and I will take it into consideration for either a story or plot filler (in either the Tales of Twins or other stories).