Operation London (9 page)

"I'm Ava London
. I was interested in kickboxing and Miguel recommended your place," she smiled.

"Excellent!  I'm Piper, by the way
. This is, as you can see, my house of pain," she said lovingly, gazing around with adoration in her eyes. "We just got a new kickboxing instructor from Scotland."  She winked at Ava and drew her close, whispering in her ear, "If you weren't here with Miguel I might let you know how adorable he is, but you can't scoop up all the cuties." 

The girls giggled and Miguel scowled at what he guessed they were discussing.

"Don't be so ornery!" Piper yelled at Miguel, eliciting a small smile from the large man.

Ava discovered through the course of her evening that Piper had only one volume: loudest
. The woman did everything at maximum energy, including speak. But every person in the place was appreciative of her attention, and no one could resist her happy scolding. As loud and crazy as Piper could seem, there was no denying a very real focus. She expected things to run smoothly at her establishment and she held herself personally responsible to see to it that everything did.

Piper dragged Ava and Miguel across the room and towards a large man with jet black hair and brooding blue eyes.

"Ava London, Miguel Gustan, meet Cormac MacGormaine. He's one of the finest kickboxers in the world," she said, causing the powerful man to blush.

"She sings my praises without reason
. I'm powerful good, but I ain't world class yet," he said in the strange Scottish brogue of his homeland. Ava could have swooned over that accent like any B-movie starlet if she hadn't been seduced by warmer tones earlier.

"He's crazy," Piper said, as she handed Ava gloves
.

Miguel had initially wanted to watch a little, but the first few minutes of watching Ava getting touched by another man drove him crazy
. He didn't like feeling so jealous over something so obviously innocent, so he made his way across the gym to find a better outlet for his energy.

Cormac was very helpful and knowledgeable
. He respected the fact that Ava knew very little about the sport and got her working on basics right away.

"First thing is stance
. You want to be sure that your feet are just shoulder length apart. Any more and you'll lose mobility, any less you're liable to fall on your face," he grinned as Ava set her feet. "Okay, good. Now, what hand are you dominant in?"

"I'm a lefty," Ava said, checking to make sure her feet were a good distance apart.

"Well, you're not conventional, then. That's what we call all them righties out there fighting. So you want to lead wit' your right,or your weaker foot. Good. And you want to be square wit' your opponent, not side to side. Very good, square hips. Good."

Cormac positioned her hands high and encouraged her to keep her chin down
.

"Is this right?" she asked, making a mean grimace at him.

"Oh, you're a natural," he laughed. "Wonderful!  You're very relaxed and loose in position. That's basically what you need to do to be a good fighter. You want to stay very loose and relaxed even while you focus on pummeling the other guy."

Ava was ready to practice her basic movements
. She had to basically dance with herself, keeping her steps short and quick and moving forward and backward as well as left and right. Cormac yelled encouragement as she kept her pace up.

"Good Ava!  Keep your hands up!  There you go! Careful not to cross your feet now!" 

Ava knew from long years of experience that cementing any habit in good form was essential, so she focused close to an hour on her stance and basic movements alone. She could feel the sweat begin to build on her face, dripping off the tip of her nose, welling in between her breasts. It was an excellent feeling, a cleansing feeling. There was nothing Ava loved more than hearing her own heart pounding and in action.

Cormac finally called her out of the ring.

"Brilliant, Ava. Are you planning to come for lessons regularly?" he asked.

"I would really love to," Ava said, mopping her face and neck with a clean white towel
. She drank a long draught from her sports bottle, enjoying the cool water. Her eyes scanned the gym, looking around for Miguel.

She found him alright
. Found him and almost choked on the mouthful of water she was trying to down. He was soaked in sweat, shirtless, moving lightly back and forth on his feet. Ava would have expected such a big man to be clumsy moving so quickly, but he was the most graceful figure she had ever seen. Time seemed to stop as she watched his lean, washboard abs bend and move to avoid punches. His arms burst with muscular power, moving with a snakelike precision as he jabbed and blocked. Shaking his sweaty black hair, he turned to look at her, his clean lined face distorted with a mouth guard. Suddenly his opponent caught him on the side of the face. A look of shock registered on his face as he hit the mats like a ton of bricks.

Ava screamed and ran across the length of the gym, hoisted herself into the ring to kneel beside him
. He was blinking quickly, trying to regain his hold on reality.

"Miguel
. Look at me. Look at me. How many fingers am I holding up?" Ava asked, pushing his sweaty hair off of his face frantically, holding his face steady with her other hand.

"Nine," he said, looking past her three fingers and into her worried gray eyes
. He spit his mouth guard out and shook his head. "One, four, seven, eight, four, six, six, four, four," he grinned.

She punched his arm hard
. "You shouldn't joke like that," she said, frowning at his disregard for his recent fall. His smile suddenly faded, and he moaned low and long. "What?  What do you need?" Ava asked, checking his body for any signs of injury.

"I need...owww....I need...ohh nooo......I need dinner with you," he said
.

She didn't know whether to burst out laughing or pummel him for his sudden idiotic behavior
. The problem was solved when her stomach growled on its own.

"Dinner it is," Miguel smiled.

At that point Miguel's opponent made his way towards them guiltily. He eyed Miguel warily before approaching. Miguel growled at him for a minute before smiling.

"Jackson, you're damned lucky a beautiful woman came to console me and made that
punch worth it, or I'd have to beat the crap out of you," Miguel smiled.

"Hey, if you'd been focusing on your blocks instead of pretty girls, we could have avoided this whole thing," the man grinned back
.

Ava stared at the man for a minute
. He looked so familiar, and he seemed to be looking at her with the same misplaced interest. Suddenly it dawned on her.

"Officer Denson!" she cried
.

The officer raised one eyebrow at her, mimicking his earlier rigidity
. "It's Jackson here, ma'am."

"Ava London," she said, extending her hand.

"You two know each other?" Miguel asked from his position on the floor.

"I almost gave your lovely friend a ticket for excessive speed on the road earlier today," Jackson said
. "But she was saved by a call. I had to hall someone off to jail."

"What happened?" Ava asked, praying the officer had never noticed her car following his.

"Let's just say I had to help clean up something that's needed cleaning for a long time. Hopefully it will help us solve the missing Deltore girl mystery," he said, grimacing a little.

"Who is the Deltore girl?" Ava asked, looking from one wary face to another
. Why did that name ring a bell?

"A young teenager was reported missing about three weeks ago
. We still have no clues," he said, shaking his head. "Nothing to worry about. This is usually a pretty safe city, and I'm confident we'll have this one solved before long," Jackson said, not sounding confident at all.

"I wish you luck," Ava said
. The three sat in silence for a few seconds. Suddenly her mind opened up. Deltore was one of the names on the list Shelly Harte had given her!  It was one of the names associated with farsightedness!

"I didn't mean to make you upset," Jackson said
. "You two enjoy your night. Ava, you take care of Miguel. And no speeding," he said with a warning glare that he replaced with a wink and smile.

"That's a relief," Ava sighed as she watched Jackson's back retreat
. She was still shaken by what she had discovered, but she didn't want to risk bringing it up with Miguel. He obviously kept close company with the local law enforcement and that was the last place Ava wanted her name to pop up.

"What's that?" Miguel asked.

"I was afraid I was going to have an angry cop watching my every step while I was in Houston."

"How fast were you going?" Miguel asked with interest.

"About ninety," Ava said.

"In what kind of speed limit?" he asked, trying to hide his shock.

"Sixty," she said, pulling him up and pushing him toward the men's dressing room. "Come on, we need dinner."

Ava's extra clothes consisted of tight brown leather pants, a tan v-neck shirt and a light camel suede jacket
. She was carrying a mascara and a very good cheek/lip color, but other than that Miguel would just have to deal with the fresh faced, clean look and be contented.

As she finger combed her long, honeyed hair she wondered about the Deltore girl
. Had she known the Espino siblings?  Was there any relation between the burn in the grass and the missing girl?  She had to put this out of her head and enjoy her much deserved date with the very intriguing Miguel Gustan.

Checking her lipstick in the mirror, Ava wondered if she had bit off more than she could chew
. This whole situation could involve someone's life; someone very young and innocent. It would be reckless and selfish of her to pursue the matter on her own. To add to her dilemma, she wasn't making any kind of wage for this independent snooping, and though her savings would hold her for a long time, she couldn't use them all up for months of crazed behavior. She needed real authority as well. As it stood she could barely question people without violating some minor laws, and she had enough of a background in legal technicalities to know exactly the kind of trouble that could get her into.

To top everything off, she was becoming more and more infatuated with Miguel and she'd hardly given herself time to know him
. That was extra dangerous. Out in the gym she'd shown the whole world that she was willing to go to extremes to ensure his safety. That kind of open attitude would be just the thing any guy would look for if he had plans to mess with a girl's mind. Not that Miguel did, but Ava certainly wasn't maintaining any kind of distance.

Walking out of the locker room, Ava encountered him again and drew a long breath in
. He looked incredible. A French blue button down shirt, sleeves cuffed loosely at his forearms complimented the deep tan of his skin. His gray pants were a perfect fit, emphasizing every muscle she'd had the opportunity to stare at during the workout, but giving an air of casual grace.

"Looking good," she said, kissing him lightly on the cheek
. She tried not be obvious about inhaling his smell, like limes and crisp mountain air.

"You look absolutely beautiful, dulce," he said, pulling away from her to drink in the
trim body hugged within her clinging clothes.

"Where are we headed?" she asked, trying to contain the blush that had colored her face.

"I was thinking the
Imperial,
this wonderful Indian place. Do you like Indian food?" 

It was a yes or no question
. So why was she so unfocused?

"That would be wonderful," Ava finally said
.

"It's not far from here, so I'll drive us both and bring you back to your car when we finish," Miguel said, taking her hand smoothly to lead her towards his Jeep.

The night air was cool, and it felt wonderful to just sit and relax, allow everything that had happened sink in. Ava leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes as Miguel maneuvered the red Jeep through the downtown traffic.

"So, how has Houston been treating you?" Miguel asked.

"Actually, it's been really great."  Ava turned to look at him and offered a tiny smile. "I'm really enjoying myself."

"I'm glad to hear that
. What did you think of Piper's?"

"I think you scared the crap out of me!"

"No need to be nervous. Everyone takes a bad hit now and then. If I wasn't so busy looking at the most amazing woman I've ever met I could have avoided that," he said, his voice low and serious.

"Don't try to palm your clumsiness off on my raving beauty
. You're just going to have to get used to the fact that I'm a goddess," she grinned.

"Well, well
. I can see your self-esteem is just fine, Ms. London. I'll work on worshipping you in a way that prevents bodily harm," he joked. "If that pleases your highness."