Looking at someone

The boy was intimidated by Journee. He kept pulling his hand, but her grip was too strong. He kept twisting and twirling his hand but was unsuccessful. He had to get away from her. He had a mission to complete. And here she was instructing him to leave the park.

"But I…" he protested.

"What is your name?" Journee stared into his eyes, intensely.

"I am not telling you that," smirked the boy.

Journee gave him a bored look and exhaled loudly. "I have your wallet and I can bet that it has your ID in it."

The smirk from his face vanished. He just looked at Journee and gulped. He facepalmed mentally over his grave mistake.

"So, I was right," Journee shook her head with disbelief. She pulled the boy closer and scolded, "who the hell trained you? Is this your first time undercover?"

"Yes," he lowered his head with shame.

"Since when the FBI is incompetent," taunted Journee.

Her taunt made him look at her. He protested, "Hey! FBI is not incompetent, I am. I was instructed to leave my wallet at home, but I forgot." He again hung his head low.

"And no one is here to supervise you?" asked Journee, politely.

"That would give me away," stated the boy.

"Really!" Journee raised one eyebrow at him.

He realized his mistake. Even when he was alone, she recognized him. "Yeah okay, you recognized me in an instant."

"So, let this be a lesson to you. If you go and finish your mission, you might get caught. Tell your seniors that you are not ready and need more training, boy," suggested Journee.

But the word boy humiliated him. He cried, "I am not a boy, and my name is…" he stopped mid-way.

"Yes!"

"Harris."

She closed the distance between them and whispered in his ears, "Harris, listen carefully. Leave the park or I will place you under arrest, right now."

"Excuse me!" he shouted.

"You did pick my pocket, Harris," Journee pointed out.

"Oh no!" he realized that he committed a crime and could be arrested for it. His job was to pick Archer's pocket, not anyone else's. He just wanted to see if he could successfully pull off the mission. Journee looked like an easy target to him, but she spoiled everything. Now, he might not finish his mission. Oh! Archer was going to be so mad. Noelle would strangle him to death.

"Oh yes! So, what is it going to be?" demanded Journee.

"I will leave immediately," said Harris, hurriedly.

"Good boy!" she patted his cheeks.

"May I know who you are?" he had respect in his eyes.

"No, you may not, now run along," she let go of his hand.

"Yes ma'am. Certainly ma'am," he started walking away and saluted her.

Before he could go far Journee shouted, "Hey!" he turned around. She threw his wallet towards him and shouted, "catch." Harris picked his pace and was out of her sights within seconds.

"You enjoy hounding young criminals, don't you? Poor boy! He ran away like you were going to shoot him," Jack jumped from the van and joined Journee. But she didn't reply. She was still looking at the place where Harris vanished in the trees.

"Jo! You, okay?" Henry noticed that she was deep in her thoughts. He placed his hand over her shoulder and asked, "What? What are you thinking?"

"Is Trevor here?" she asked.

"Trevor? No, he hasn't arrived till now. Why?" Henry was confused.

"Call him, ask if FBI too is working with CED," she notified.

"What?" shouted Jack.

But Henry replied, "No, they are not. FBI is not working on the Hall family with CED."

"How do you know?" inquired Journee.

"You make me do all the research. Trust me I know. In all the memos and the bills, not once the FBI was mentioned," he replied.

"Then what is the FBI doing here?" questioned Journee.

"FBI!" both Jack and Henry shouted at once.

"The pickpocket whom I was hounding, is FBI and his name is Harris. He is undercover, here to pick someone's pocket," informed Journee.

"Excuse me!" exclaimed Henry.

The cogs in her brain started rotating fast. She commanded, "get me the footage of the boy. Distribute it to everyone's phone and ask them to be on the lookout for him. I want to know who he was here for."

"Yes, ma'am," shouted both Henry and Jack and they immediately climbed back in the van and pulled out the footage where Journee was talking with Harris. They took a screenshot of his face and sent that photo to every officer's phone. She too kept looking for him on the TV screens.

He was a poor pickpocket but a good camera avoider. He kept walking across the trees and behind other people. It was almost like he vanished. He was not visible on any cameras. Everyone including the IT team ignored the Hall family and kept looking for Harris.

Finally, Journee spotted him near Hall's picnic area. "There," she shouted, and everyone looked at the TV screen that she was pointing to.

"What is he looking at?" she tilted her head to focus on him. "Zoom out."

"Yes, ma'am," said the member of the IT team and with a click of a button he zoomed out.

They all were concentrating on the screen when a screeching voice filled the van. "What is happening, guys?" Journee knew who it was. The annoying voice trying hard to be authoritative can only be one person, Trevor.

She was in no mood to deal with him. Her mission was about to be spoiled by a stupid boy and she could never let that happen. "Shhhh…" she shushed him without even looking at him.

That hurt Trevor's ego. His ego was even taller than his stature. He reprimanded, "did she just shush me?" But Journee, Henry, and Jack, all ignored him. They were busy finding out what Harris was looking at.

"Oh, it's not a what. He is looking at someone," cried Jack.

Trevor was getting frustrated and annoyed by getting ignored. "Who is looking at whom? Tell me!" he screamed.

"Yeesh…" exclaimed Henry.

Trevor climbed inside the van and stood next to Journee's chair. "You guys can't ignore me. I am your boss. You have to tell me everything," he demanded.

Journee closed her eyes and opened them with a clenched jaw. She turned around to stare at him. Her death stare sent a chill down his spine. "I don't know why you are here, to make sure everything goes smoothly or to keep an eye on us, I don't care. Next time you break my concentration, I will throw you off this van. Am I clear, Boss?" she mocked him.

He took a step back with fear and stammered, "I… I am… just here to facilitate everything that you need."

"Right now, I need peace and quiet, so shut the eff up," Journee shouted at the top of her lungs. She looked at Jack and asked, "did you see whom he is staring at?"

"No, that person is hidden by this tree here," he pointed at the screen.

She immediately stood up and opened the sunroof of the van. "Jack, give me a hand," she requested. He kneeled on the floor and Journee climbed on his back after removing her heels. Her line of sight was clear. She followed Harris's line of sight and her eyes landed on the gorgeous bodyguard. She squinted her eyes with surprise.

"Why is he looking at the bodyguard?" she pondered.

She again made sure that Harris really was looking at the bodyguard and jumped off Jack's back.

"What? What did you see?" asked Henry, excited.

"He is staring at the bodyguard," said Journee, confused.

"What? Why?" asked Jack after standing up.

"Henry, you and I are going to rewind every tape and look for the bodyguard. Jack and you," she pointed at Trevor, "keep looking at the live footage. Inform me as soon as Harris is going to act."

"His name is Harris?" laughed Trevor.

"That's your concern, really!" rebuked Journee.

Trevor lowered his head and said, "Sorry!"

Half the TV screens started playing the rewound footage and half had the live footage. Within minutes, Jack shouted, "there."

The IT personnel again rewound the footage and this time, Journee noticed. The bodyguard gave a look to Zion and pocketed a small pouch filled with white powder from the basket of fruits and placed it inside his trouser pocket. Journee made the IT guy stop the footage and she leaned in close to see clearly what that pouch was.

"What is that?" asked Henry. He took the remote from the IT guy and zoomed in. He stopped when the screen started pixelating. Jack and Trevor would glance at her screen but would go back to follow Harris. They had to tell her the moment he was about to act.

Journee on the other hand titled her head in all directions and said, "looks like drugs."

"But why would he pocket his own drug? Are they not meant to be sold?" asked Henry.

"And why would he shoot a look to Zion," asked Journee.

"Right!"