Operation London (8 page)

Unsure of what to make of the whole eruptive scene, Ava sat back and drummed her fingers nervously on the steering wheel
. Crazy woman was slumped on the steps, pulling her hair out and shaking her head from side to side. The children who had been coloring patted her with their small hands, but she brushed them away roughly. The little boy tried again to touch her and she swatted him hard, slapping his face. Ava had seen enough.

Even as she was marching over to the woman, even as the words were beginning on her lips, Ava knew she should turn around and let things be
. Unfortunately, once she got fired up there was no stopping her, and even forced resignation from her former job hadn't quelled her need to be a cowboy.

The boy was crying softly by the time Ava got there, and it was all she could do to keep from giving the woman a slap she would never foget.

"Hey!" Ava called, grabbing the woman by the shoulder. "Hey!  Get up!  Quit hitting those kids!" she yelled, trying desperately to make eye contact with the forlorn creature.

The kids bolted, probably afraid to remain on what might be the receiving end of a very bad situation
.

"Mind your own business, bitch," said the woman, but there was no growl behind her words
. Defeated in every way she grabbed fistfuls of her wavy black hair and rocked back and forth on her dingy porch step.

"They took in your husband?" Ava asked quietly, trying to use gentleness to elicit some response.

"Boyfriend. What's it to you?"  The woman wiped her nose on her sleeve and pulled her forefinger up under her eyes, trying to erase the black smear of mascara that made her look like a zombie.

"I'm here to see an ex-coworker
. She left me in the middle of shift and our boss is pissed because she walked out with a smock from the optical place."  Breath held, Ava tried to look believably bored and pissed.

"That little piece of trash Alucina!" shouted the woman, her eyes glowing like hot coals despite the swollen puffiness
. She looked into Ava's blank eyes for a second before amending, "Lucia, Lucia Espino."
"Yeah, that's her. Do you know if she's around?" Ava asked.

"She usually hangs out with the garbage upstairs
. The ones who got Emilo into all this trouble," the woman said, her voice shaking. "We got two babies, and he left me with another from his wife. I don't know what I'm gonna do!"  She sobbed quietly into her arms.

"Hey, hey
. Don't be upset. I'm sure it's not so bad. He'll be on bail soon," Ava consoled.

"No!  They don't let you go for the kind of stuff he was into!  At the end, he gave me this."  The woman had a diamond, at least two carats on her finger
. "Where'd he get that kind of money?  I'm so stupid, I knew all along there's only one way some dumb guy can make so much money!"

"Was he dealing drugs?" Ava asked, regretting the naive words as soon as they spilled out of her mouth.

The woman was too stunned to notice. She nodded slowly, tears falling off of her cheeks and pooling on her knees. "And maybe some bad things?  I don't know. Melio was so gentle, but in the end maybe he was using?  I don't know, but he was different. Like he wasn't paying attention to nothing, not even me and the kids. And that little cunt goes along with it all."

"I never realized
. I always thought she just worked at the optical center," Ava said, wondering how Lucia played into the whole situation.

"Oh, she always has some kind of cushy job making some kind of pay we would kill for. Always working in the nice parts of town because Daddy make it so easy and keeps jobs coming even when she goes through three or four a month
. But she don't give a shit. She loves her brother, and she'll be bad so she can be good enough to hang out with him."  The woman's mouth had settled into a hard line, wrinkles working into her forehead.

"I didn't know Lucia had a brother," Ava said, surprised by the woman's snort of contempt.

"Then you don't know Lucia. She doesn't talk unless it's some shit about that boy. Those rich bastards got more than this whole block put together and they just dragging everyone into their games," she broke down, crying and murmuring "Emilio" under her breath.

Ava tried to convince the woman to leave the scene, come up to whatever apartment she was the occupant of in the tiny, dingy space, but it was no use
. She did learn the whereabouts of Lucia Espino.

Lucia lived in apartment 4B
. Ava climbed the close, dark steps to the door, where a bronzed nameplate announced "Angel."  She didn't know what to do, where to take this lead. Suddenly, the door opened. Ava made as if she were walking to apartment 4C, but watched out of the corner of her eye as the two children she had seen on the steps came out the apartment. She was about to breath a sigh of relief when she noticed something peculiar. Each sported a pair of new glasses, too big for their small heads. They wandered about the hallway, squealing with delight as they bumped into one another and walked around in circles, arms held stiffly in front of them.

Ava continued to stare before turning and clamoring down the steps, onto the concrete and into the impending gloom of early evening
. In the safety of her car, she was able to lean her head against the steering wheel and let out a long, smooth breath of relief. It had not been clear to her when she was inside the building just how oppressive the air was, just how frightening the close corners and dark corridors were. Out in the open she could think about what had happened with greater clarity of thought.

She had found the missing glasses and located the people who seemed to be the ringleaders in whatever horrible crime perpetrated the neighborhood, but who were they and how did this all fit together?  The more she learned the less sense everything made
. She felt as if she'd been given tiny, meaningful details to a case she'd never been briefed on. And to add to her general feeling of alarm and dismay, she had to act alone on this one. There was no team to bounce ideas off of, no backup, no leader, no assignment.

Taking out the list of names Shelly Harte had provided her with, she began scanning for Lucia Espino and any other names that might ring a bell
. Lucia's name was on the list, as well as Angel's. The problem was both orders were for "fashion lenses," which meant that they were merely for looks. That was a far cry from the intense vision steadying lenses Ava's owner needed. Ava sighed and rolled her neck, trying to combat the tightening that was already spreading down her back. Maybe she was right initially about the whole glasses robbery being a coincidence. Maybe Lucia was ready to quit and she wanted to get something free before she left. Or maybe she had nothing to do with it at all. Ava stared at the list, but no other name made sense. There were a dozen people who had pretty severe farsightedness. Losing track of time, she began to commit their names to memory.

She suddenly looked down at her digital car clock and gasped
. It was almost seven o'clock and she was absolutely not ready to face Miguel Gustan for a date. Cell phone in hand, she considered calling him and telling him to cancel the whole thing, but that wasn't the way she did things. She always kept a backpack with a change of clothes in the back of her car, so there was no real reason to avoid this. Sighing with exhaustion from her day, anger at her own stupidity and overall frustration, Ava popped her trunk and peered into the bag to see what she would wear for her long date with Miguel.

Piper's House of Pain was near the downtown area of Houston that Ava had driven around earlier in the day
. Her new familiarity with the area coupled with her racecar style driving skills put her at the doors at 7:10. Not bad in her estimation.

Grabbing the bag out of her trunk, she tried to look nonplussed as she approached a worried looking Miguel
. That chiseled face was set in the hard lines of a man who hated to worry and despised not knowing. She gave him a wave to alert his attention and noted with pleasure that his face flooded with relief.

"Hi Miguel
. Sorry I'm late," she said, smiling sheepishly. She never apologized on her dates!  What was going on?

Pulling her towards him, he lifted her hand to his lips, brushing the soft skin with his brusque stubble
. "I was worried," he said simply, his black eyes smoldering. He intended to let her know that he had been concerned and it didn't bother him at all that she set her mouth in an annoyed twist as a response. "Do you have a cell phone?" he asked.

"Of course
. Why?" Why?  Why was she acting like it was fourth grade again, boys against girls, phys. ed. tug of war?

"Because I would like to ask if I could have the number," he said, one large brown hand settling protectively on her upper arm
. His thumb made hypnotizing circles on her skin. "For safety reasons only. I will even give you mine," he grinned.

"I don't know if I want you so close so fast," she said solidly, squaring her gray eyes at him.

"I think you're a little late for that, nina," he answered, pulling her body closer to his. He bent down so his mouth was against to her ear, his breath hot on her neck. "Nine one four, seven eight four, two five two five."  

She jerked her cell phone out of her purse and pounded the number in.

"Nine one four, seven eight four, six six four four," she snapped with unnecessary aggravation.

Miguel's eyes closed for less than a second before he smiled at her and nodded, beckoning her in.

"You aren't going to put it in your phone or write it down or something?" Ava asked, bristling at his calm headshake. "I don't give my number to a guy more than once."  There was warning in her tone, a sharp metal edge to her voice. Few women not related to him had ever dared to use a voice like that with him. It was unbelievably arousing.

"I don't forget things I want to remember," he insisted with a simmering smile, then pointed to his head. "All up here, Ava
. I keep all the important things up here."

With that he pulled her into the gym and spread his well-muscled arms wide, inviting her to enjoy the view of Piper's House of Pain from the inside.

Ava drew her breath in. From just one look she could tell that this was not the kind of place that catered to amateurs or mere body builders. There were many people in uniform milling around, creating an air of an official training base or a boot camp. And there were few machines. No aerobic bikes, no whirl pool, just bodies learning to move and move well.

Miguel pointed her to the women's locker room and went to change himself
. Luckily Ava never traveled without workout clothes. In her line of work she had had to keep in top condition, and she had often been forced to sneak time in instead of regulating any kind of schedule.

Miguel leaned against the wall, preparing to have to wait an excessively long time for Ava to change
. He was surprised when she exited the dressing room mere seconds after he had. He was absolutely shocked when he saw her in her work out clothing. It had been a long time since any woman had created such a powerful rush in him.

She wore very short cotton shorts with the waistband rolled down over her flat, toned tummy
. Across her firm, attractive little backside was writing that proclaimed, "Edmonds High School." A tight navy blue cotton tee with no sleeves hugged her pert breasts and Miguel had to look down what felt like three minutes of legs before he hit her feet. She looked unassuming, healthy and gorgeous. He loved the whole package, and was having a difficult time peeling his eyes away from her.

Focusing on her eyes was no better
. Her hair had been bound high on top of her head in a ponytail, and it left her face exposed completely. Her slightly upturned, almond shaped silver eyes flashed at him. Cheekbones a model would envy were enhanced by peachy skin. He noticed that she had a smattering of freckles across her impish nose, and it twisted his heart in his chest with simple pleasure. He desperately wanted to lose himself in the lush beauty of her wide lips, to bury himself in her creamy skin, to trace the line of freckles on her nose.

Shaking his head to clear the dangerously carnal images that were carousing in his imagination, he put out his hand, offering to escort her around the facility.

Ava took Miguel's hand and felt the air rush in and out her lungs, making her dizzy with need. This man emanated heat. Holding his hand, the smooth, hot skin of his fingers clasped around hers, the calloused rawness of his palms making her soft skin tingle, was more intimate and sexual than some of the nights in bed she had experienced with other men. If his hand alone could do this to her she shuddered to imagine his lean body over hers.

A short, freckled woman with bouncing red curls interrupted her thought flow
. She bounded over to Miguel and Ava, throwing her arms around them in a compact, strangling hug. Ava smiled at the unrestrained energy of the woman.

"Miguel and friend!  Welcome to my humble abode!  What's your pleasure?"  Her green eyes danced as she surveyed the two
. Her absolute radiance was infectious. Ava found herself wiggling her fingers free of Miguel's hold to clasp the woman's strong hand.