Act 1: Confidence
Coach B – Seat 66 and 67 20:00 London St. Pancras Train Station
Sandy searched for the coach at London St. Pancras holding Priya by her left hand and running to get into the coach. It had been an interesting day of shopping, coffee drinking, sharing and smiling…err rather giggling! Settling down in the seats Sandy and Priya started off playing cards as planned. Out came 2 cans of Coors Light Beer and started disappearing into their oesophagus. Sandy was trying to teach Priya how to shuffle cards. Leicester to London was 1 hour and 15 minutes. Ample time for Sandy to do what he had planned. After a long day of meeting friends Sandy’s confidence levels had gone up for what he was about to accomplish.
A group of Chinese college grads get into the coach. One of the girls approaches Sandy and Priya stating that they are a group and would like to sit together and the 2 seats which Sandy and Priya were occupying could be of help to complete the group. Priya made an expression which Sandy immediately knew that it was suggesting to let go of the place. Sandy was happy to do anything for Priya which she must be aware by now. Sandy picked up the jacket and bag of Priya and courteously offered his hand to lift up Priya and then moved on to the exchanged seat after bowing to the Chinese girl. The other friends in the group thanked Sandy and Priya as well. Sandy swelled with pride.
Over a period of 20 minutes, Priya and Sandy play cards and get drunk. Priya starts getting extra happy and noisy and so does Sandy. They exchange happy glances, giggle, laugh out loud, exchange hand squeezes and then it gets to a point where they start playing poker with bets of challenging actions. Meanwhile in the other table the Chinese college grads also play cards as well. The whole coach gets noisy with others who are busy reading or texting in smartphones exchange weird glances.
Till around 20:35 there is no checking of tickets. An overhead announcement declares that the pantry is open and drinks and snacks are served. In another 5 minutes a plump guy walks with a bag to gather garbage and 4 beer cans get into that bag from Sandy’s table and then they continue playing cards. Priya wins a poker. Demands Sandy to dance right now…shouting out high! People in the train strain themselves to see who that is and exchanged glances. Meanwhile the next round ends up with Sandy winning and demanding Priya do a pirouette which she happily obliges to…right there…then and there. Then Sandy ends up smooching Priya. They giggle and cuddle. That’s as happy as it can get.
Sandy noticed in all the while a few things had changed. One of the Chinese girls had stepped out of the group and sat in an opposite seat and was checking something on her iPad. She was swiping away with her right hand. She was also holding her left hand to the ear. Sandy turned back and noticed a passenger sitting 3 seats away with an iPad on her desk and on the phone frantically talking with her legs on the front seat stretched. She slows down for a few seconds on seeing Sandy but then continues on ignoring him. Sandy got back cosy with Priya. It is 20:50 and the lights outside speed past creating a heavenly pattern when Sandy relaxes in the shoulders of Priya.
It is said that If you are trained to be an operative, you notice even the smallest things which may look trivial to others. Smell, touch, visuals, conversations, luggage why even breathing are attributes which raise the antennae of operatives to gauge the situation. The speed at which these attributes register and then trigger calculative thought process in the mind of an operative is an amazing study altogether. Ok…now let us get back to the train. Though he was under the influence of alcohol, Sandy could clearly smell a specific perfume in the coach. It was indeed a very expensive perfume which he himself had once used. He could hear the doors of the coach open behind him and shit after a few seconds. There was only one person entering the coach as the doors shut soon enough.
Heavyset feet stomps were heard. A man 6 foot 2 inches tall brushed past Sandy and went and took a seat which was 2 rows in front. Sandy could not see his face but even without that he could sense trouble. The few seconds when the man crossed him , he had brushed the elbow of Sandy and what he felt was the butt of a gun. To be precise it was a Beretta. Such qualities come with experience to an operative. And Sandy was sure it was loaded. What the 6 footer didn’t know was that Sandy was looking straight at him. Sandy required confidence and courage for this one. This was not he was planning to do today. He was planning to propose to Priya for which he needed confidence. But things have turned out otherwise. There was a situation in hand.
The 6 footer was wearing a baseball cap which concealed his eyes. He was busy shifting some papers from his pockets into his bag, careful enough not to reveal his left trouser pockets where the Beretta rested. Then he noticed something. The 6 footer had a tattoo in his neck. Though not completely visible from the position where Sandy was sitting, he was pretty sure he could see a portion of it which resembled…’a tail!!’. It was the tail of a scorpion. At first Sandy didn’t connect well. But then he suddenly remembered seeing it elsewhere. He tried to recollect going back into pockets of memory of the day. Where had he seen it!
Come on Sandy… where where….? The train was now chugging down slower than normal. Sandy checked his watch. It was 5 minutes before the train would reach the station. Something was about to happen before the train reached its destination. Sandy had to act fast. Who was the target? Was it him? Was it someone else? The 6 footer he noticed was as sober as a man just out of a corporate meeting from a heated argument. He had not looked up yet. Sandy noticed Priya had dozed off. He slowly lifted her hand from his shoulder and placed it. With finesse he just draped her with a blanket he had brought and stood up. He took his bag from the baggage area and walked on while opening the from zipper of the bag and had his hands on his Colt. He didn’t take it out. The train was slowly approaching the station. Sandy slowly walked towards the 6 footer. As Sandy was closing in, the 6 footer looked up casually. His eyes fixed on Sandy.
Then Sandy realised something. The Scorpion he had seen tattooed on the 6 footer’s neck was also on the left arm of the Chinese girl and also in the legs of the girl who sat right behind him. It was a trap. Sandy had very few seconds to react. He was a trained operative and few seconds are more than enough to make history for a trained operative.
Gunshots echoed through the train station as the train came to a halt at the platform. Heavy footsteps of uniformed personnel running towards coach could be heard. Sandy was shot in the shoulder and fell. He was in a state of utter shock. It was not because he was hit. It was not because the 6 footer was shot in the head and was lying on the seat with his seat splattered with blood. He was also sure that the Chinese lady was dead as well. He had turned and taken a shot at the lady who sat behind him with an instinct. That instinct turned out to be fruitful. What left him in a state of shock was the remaining shots were fired by Priya. She stood there with 2 guns in her hand like those hot chick assassins from the Hollywood movies. Sandy’s vision blurred. He had to propose to Priya today. That was the secret deal with Murali before boarding the train. It took him few seconds to realise there was someone else standing near him looking down at him and trying to talk to him. Sandy couldn’t hear anything. Just lip movement. And the figure standing above him was … Murali’. What the hell was Murali doing on the train. Everything turned dizzy for Sandy. He could see Priya running towards him with a worried look on her face.
The train announced arrival at London St.Pancras station and a mishap that had happened in the train and that the doors will not open except the last door from which officials will enter to understand the situation and evacuate the passengers.
Sandy lost consciousness.
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