The Thief

This one is a little cliche. I always had this fantasy of becoming an FBI agent, hence this story.

The Thief   

For anyone who works in front of an audience there is no thrill quite like that of feeling and hearing the evidence of the audience members' enjoyment. Laughter and applause really are powerful. And I always had and loved an audience. I thought they loved me too, that they were intrigued by my intelligence. But that thought turned out to be wrong. I liked to call myself not a thief, but Connoisseur of Art. I was one of the best in my profession, ‘the most wanted’. But I didn’t steal or rob because I needed to, it was because for me it was thrilling and adventurous.

 My work was always flawless. I was invincible or so I thought.

A silly mistake led to my failure or maybe it was the beginning of my true success. I was ready with the perfect plan to steal the most famous painting in the Louvre- the Mona Lisa. But my plan was not so perfect after all. I was caught and taken into custody. I spent six months in a jail cell. I had started believing that I would have to spend the rest of my life here. But then one day when I was sitting in the silence, I suddenly heard my name echoing in the hallway. It was one the guards. There was a man who had come to visit me. It was shocking since I didn’t have a family who would care about me. I was led towards one of the interrogation rooms. I saw the man and recognized him at once. It was the same agent who had caught me. His name was Agent Lincoln Lee. He and his team had a hard time questioning me for hours trying to understand my strategies and how I could get away with such robberies. I gave him a sly smile.  I expected that he had come to ask me questions again, but it was just the opposite. Surprisingly he needed my help. There had been a new case of robbery. They had absolutely no evidence, the robbery was from a well protected vault and the robber left no clues about how he had done it. According to him this case was similar to the robberies I did. He wanted my help to solve it as I would know how it was done and what the thief’s next move would be. He said if I help him I would be out of this jail cell but on a close watch. I agreed to help. I hated the thought of staying inside the vicinity of four walls all my life, why wouldn’t I take the semi freedom over a jail cell? I was released on the very same day. We got to work as soon as we got out. I gave them all the assistance I could for my freedom. It took a week for us to catch the thief. He had stolen a very precious piece of ornament. Agent Lee let me return it as a token of appreciation for all the help I had given them. Although I was a thief and he was a fed, we got along pretty well, we made a good team. The ornament was a family heirloom. The couple who had been the present owners had been waiting for us in the headquarters. I walked towards them and gave the necklace in their hands. They were so happy to see it. They told me how devastated they had been and what a loss they would have procured if it wasn’t found. I suddenly realized all the bad aspects of what I had been doing all these years. So many people had lost so much just because of me. When I was busy being proud and impressed by my own work, the people I had taken so much from would have been in despair. I went on helping Agent Lee in a lot of cases and soon became his partner.

Until that very day when the agent came to visit me in jail, I thought what I did gave me thrill and adventure but in reality it never did. I experienced the actual happiness when I helped people working with the FBI. The feeling I got after seeing their jubilant faces after every case is just inexplicable. I got contentment after helping people. I realized this was my true passion. I was no Connoisseur but just a thief. I took the wrong path and now I know I have chosen the right one. That was a time in my life I will always regret. In these years I took training for getting into the FBI and was given the designation of an Agent for my skill and the assistance I had offered. It is pretty unbelievable that they trust me, a thief, but I am glad they do. Three years have passed since I was released from the jail and joined the forces with the FBI. Not even one day in these three years have I regretted my decision of helping people and working with the law. Now is the real thrill and adventure.