I wasn’t sure what to feel. Shock? Awe? Certainly confusion. The train had long rumbled on by the time I made to leave. I walked slowly up to street level, passing through the barriers and out into the cool summer air. I started to walk down towards my office, thinking about what had just happened.
I was second guessing myself. Had what I thought just happened happened? Or had I misread the situation and just been the subject of a particularly flirtatious commuter?
There was only one way to find out. I checked my watch and realised I was already late for work; nothing lost there then. I picked up my pace and made for the Italian sandwich shop.
By the time reached it, I was practically running. To my dismay, the shop wasn’t open yet, but I pressed my hands to the window and peered into the gloom. There was the familiar site of the sandwich bar, where many a salami and mozzarella flat bread had been prepared for me. And above it, there she hung. Pretty, pinky and winky. It was her. It had to be. I closed my eyes firmly, conjuring up an image of the girl, standing there on the tube train. It was her. I knew it.
She had winked at me. She had known who I was. Why? How? Who the fuck was she?! I shook my head, confused, and started to walk to the office. Lighting a cigarette and inhaling deeply did little to calm my rising apprehension.
Did she have anything to do with Michael Caine? ‘I’m just here to warn you, boy. Don’t ask questions now. Just keep your eyes open’. It seemed like it.
—
A mile south, a brown haired girl in a pink dress exited Embankment Tube Station. She trotted daintily down the steps and onto the street before heading over to the traffic lights and crossing the road. She walked along the river for a short while, before slowing her pace as she approached a man in a long, black coat, and a smart, grey trilby hat, looking out across the Thames. A cigar dangled from his fingers.
‘Hello, my darling’, he said, without turning his head. His East London twang was soft on the river breeze.
‘Good Morning, Sir’, came her singsong reply.
‘So, how did it go? Did you see Frank?’ He turned slightly, searching her soft expression for a clue as to how events had unfolded.
The girl nodded and smiled. ‘Yes. I think he recognised me from the photo in the sandwich shop. It was sweet; he was so shocked’. She grinned at the thought.
‘So, he definitely knew it was you?’
‘I think so, yes. There was an obvious reaction. He was white in the face. And I winked at him; think that did the trick’. She giggled.
Caine raised his cigar to his lips and took a short drag. ‘Good work. Very impressive, darling’. His chuckle stopped short and he continued quietly: ‘Now, let’s get stage two in action, before it’s too bloody late’.
The girl nodded, smiling. This time, though, her expression was laced with more than just a hint of unease, as if to suggest that she didn’t like what was to come.
The Warm Up 