The Spy Who Loved Me – Excerpt No. 4

5 September 2026

In the background he heard some headphones thumping. It was some dance number that was making waves in the area. Apparently some local deejay remixed an old song from the Roaring Twenties, ramped up the beat and was being called a musical genius for it.

The music was getting louder, and louder. Until he nearly fell over. Jimmy grabbed onto a railing and dropped his phone in the process. The device bounced on the brick sidewalk several times before landing screen up and lit.

“Excusez-moi,” someone said in a young voice. (Excuse me.) “I didn’t see you.”

A young woman with blonde hair tied in a messy bun walks along a wet street at night, completely absorbed in her smartphone. She wears prominent white over-ear headphones, a grey zip-up hoodie, dark pants, and a worn olive-green canvas backpack. The scene is heavily shrouded in a thick, eerie orange fog that hangs in the air, while an intense cyan glow radiates from storefront windows and distant street corners in the background. Vintage cars sit parked along the damp asphalt. The image features heavy film grain, soft focus, and organic color bleeding, enclosed within a weathered instant-film border.

Disclaimer: This novel is an work in progress and readers may encounter grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Please view this a draft and not a published work.