THE ELITE AGENT

19. TOYS AND TATTOOS.

Alex's POV:

I walk through all the aisles, trying to find the kids section. I already lost Ben and Liam. The last time I saw them, they were fighting over who is going to push the cart.

After 10 minutes of walking, I finally decided to ask a worker. He showed me the section. I thank him and follow the direction. Half way through, I found those two.

I close my eyes and look up at the ceiling. Ben and Liam each had a cart. I would have been happy with the result of pushing their own trolley rather than fighting, if it wasn't already filled.

"We are not buying any of those," I declare. Ben and Liam who were fighting over a bag of chips turned their eyes towards me. There are many stacked there, why are they fighting over one?

"What? Why? You're the only one with money here. I forgot my wallet in the house," Ben said. Forgot? Or left it on purpose?

I shake my head and walk towards the kids aisle. I feel a cough bubbling up on my chest. I cover my mouth and cough twice. My throat feels sore as well. I just hope I am not gonna fall sick.

After finally reaching the kids aisle, I look over the bunch of colorful stuffed toys and dolls. I have no idea what they might like.

A kid who stood beside me was grabbing Marvel toys. I grab some and turn around to see Liam walking towards me with an empty cart.

I put the toys in. Hopefully Mike likes it. I grab a few nerf guns and arrow shooters and put them in as well. Liam got a set of puzzles and building blocks.

For Maria, choosing the gifts was effortless. We all knew she is obsessed with dolls. I grab a bunch of them before placing them in the cart.

"How about these," I hear Ben's voice and look up to see him holding a bicycle.

"Those are good but try to find them in pink with training wheels, will you? And grab a toy car for Mike."

"Yes sir," he mocks a salute and disappears where he came from. I see the cart is almost full but we have to shop for Mila as well.

I notice a few men, dressed in leather jacket buy a few toys. They had tattoos coloring their arms and neck. Few of them had piercing on their face as well.

And above all, they don't seem like the people here to purchase toys. Posture straight like the people in military, eyes sharp and heads held high.

If that didn't give it away, the gun tucked in the waistband did.

"Liam?" I call him casually. He looks up from a miniature doll and trains his eyes on me. I blink thrice. His eyes narrow as he notices the sudden increase of customers who seems interested in toys out of the blue.

"Can you grab that kit?" I say, pointing to a kit where a tattoo person stood. He nods and walks that way. I feel someone looming behind me. I spin around to meet another tattoo guy. His tattoo ran along his wrist and disappears under his jacket. He also had his ear and lip pierced. A grin formed on his face.

"Would you recommend me buying this?" He asked showing me a toy gun, quite normal. I might have fallen for the act if I wasn't a trained agent.

"Hey, I bought the toy car. Thank god I found a red one," I hear Ben say. He also noticed the crazy increase of customers in a matter of seconds.

"Good timing Ben," I say with my eyes still trained on the tattoo guy. He waits patiently for my answer.

"I don't know if I could recommend that. But I would recommend you not to steal stuff. Perhaps the toy gun behind your jeans could be hidden better."