Operation London Read Online Free Page A

entire day had passed and she had not eaten a thing.
    A petite girl smiled from behind the counter, her short hair dyed with streaks of bright red, a Kiss T-shirt covering her small frame .
    "Can I have the beef kebab and fried noodles . And a water," Ava ordered, reaching into her purse. "Damn. Scratch that."
    "No money?" the girl chuckled, enjoying the irony of a poor lady in Versace . "Don't worry about it. We'll just throw it out if it doesn't sell by morning. I'll put it on your tab."  The girl smiled at her, then set up to prepare the food, glancing again at Ava's outfit. "Where did you go tonight?"
    "Just a company party . Nothing very fun," Ava said sheepishly, wondering if images of her cowboy act would be all over the news the next day.
    "Awesome shoes!" the girl gushed suddenly, leaning over to get a better look .
    Ava smiled at the idea that surfaced immediately.
    Ten minutes later Ava headed home with her hands full of hot, tasty food and comfortable flip-flops on her feet. She had just made an exchange that had to rank among the world's most lopsided. Some delicious beef, noodles, a bottle of water and a cheap pair of straw flip-flops for an extremely expensive pair of red silk Italian heels. Ava smiled as she surveyed her situation.
    "Happy, well fed and amazingly comfortable," she sighed to herself, catching the last delicious noodle in her mouth with her chopsticks as she made her way up to her hotel room . "At least I'm fortified to face Tess McQueen tomorrow," she thought, shuddering inwardly.

Chapter 2
     
    Ava London fidgeted nervously in the posh waiting room that connected to Tess McQueen's office . The sweat on her smooth palms was starting to irritate her irrationally, and her temper only flamed up higher when she remembered too late that she was wearing camel suede pants, now complete with two damp streaks from her hands. Breathing slowly through her nose, she tried to ease her frustrations and keep herself calm. There was nothing to do but wait.
    Harry had failed to return her early morning call, a sure sign that he wanted to ride this one out and see how Tess reacted before he put his two cents in . That was fine for Harry, but right now Ava needed someone to comfort her before she ripped her hair out of her head.
    Had she always been this angry, this inflamed at every silly mishap?  It seemed like she was becoming a wholly unrecognizable person, one who failed to smile and enjoy what there was to savor in life . She brushed a strand of straight hair away from her brow and picked up a National Geographic to skim with half her brain.
    Ten minutes later she looked up with a start realizing that she had begun to take a real interest in Scottish shearing practices and hadn't noticed the secretary calling her impatiently.
    Ava hurried to follow the woman down a long corridor into a bright, light room overlooking Tokyo's downtown center. The sky outside was a calm, inviting azure and for a brief moment Ava considered what might happen if she just walked out of her meeting, walked into that big stretch of opportunity outside and never looked back.
    "Something's pulling you?" Tess McQueen's full, rich voice brought Ava crashing back into the office . One large hand indicated for Ava to take a seat near the enormous desk that Tess sat behind.
    "No, ma'am," Ava answered briskly.
    "This isn't the marines honey. There's no need to treat me like your general," Tess drawled, raising one dark eyebrow and turning her deep brown eyes on Ava. "Tell me about last night."
    "You can probably see it all on Tokyo 5," Ava mumbled, her being full of self-pity.
    "If I wanted to see it on that TV show, I'd switch it on. I said tell me about last night," Tess said sternly. Her cocoa colored hands were folded in front of her loosely, as if she had all the time in the world to wait for Ava's reply.
    "Last night I went to I-Con and hacked into Hiroshi's file . I got what I needed but my timing was off, so I called Harry for