Sam Callahan is a lawyer.
Our introduction to him takes place when he is 25 years old and "a few months away from grinding out a degree from Georgetown Law". He will make it to his desired profession as the adventures continue but in that first meeting, he has been skipping classes for the previous three weeks to earn some quick cash for rent and books as well as his mother's escalating medical bills. His temporary line of work was unusual, at least to me.
For a time, Callahan could have had, should he chosen to, a business card made saying "Samuel W. Callahan, Political Tracker"; not that he had ever seen such a job posting. "There were others like me hiding in the crowds of every political contest going on around the country right now. Eager young law students or government majors looking to make a name for themselves in their own political party, jockeying for position, already climbing the powerful and influential DC political ladder".
That will not be a long-term gig, as we know from his soon becoming the attorney he had been working for, but it will give him much needed experience he will find useful later on. It also gave him more opportunities to use what he describes as "a special gift. Something that even I couldn't fully understand. My mind seemed to work differently than others. I could oftentimes see things before they happened. Like an anticipation reflex. My mind allowed me to view events differently, almost in slow motion, especially in really stressful situations. I had the odd ability to look around corners-not like a freaky superhero or anything-but like I'd memorized Google Maps. I could visualize a full escape route within seconds. I'm not really sure why. I'd never been to a doctor about it. Never had a CAT scan done on my brain. I figured that maybe my mom had been on a serious acid trip when she was pregnant with me and some wires got crossed".
"This unique ability really used to freak out my street gang as a teenager. It also made me the best thief in the bunch. When I was eleven, it meant easily stealing wallets in crowded bus terminals. Or purses from oblivious women in grocery stores. In and out within seconds. Never even close to being caught. Not even with security cameras. By the time I was fourteen and living on the streets full-time, it meant jacking expensive cars from gas stations in affluent Denver neighborhoods when unsuspecting victims thought they had two minutes to rush inside with the car running and grab a Snickers and a Diet Coke. You had to have a certain temperament and skill set to ease behind the steering wheel of a Mercedes sedan, unnoticed from only twenty feet away, and calmly drive out of a parking lot."
He had put that life behind him, cleaned up his act, gotten his GED and showed himself and other just how smart he really was. He was finally having a chance to make a solid life for himself and maybe helping his mother and most of all, stay out of trouble.
Except that life will not play nice with him and when he finds himself occasionally involved in matters he really would rather have not been, he will notice that somehow the CIA will be involved - very involved.