Free Learning curves by Gemma Townley Page A

okay?”
    “Nothing wrong with a bit of ambition.” Bill grinned. “And you take your time. Don’t get much call for those ones, really.”
    “I can’t think why . . .” Jen winked at him as she left, clutching the books to her chest and wondering whether they’d fit in her bag. There was no way she was taking the tube home without covering them up.
    Daniel Peterson sat at his desk and gazed out of the window, deep in thought. There was bound to be some rule about dating students.
    He frowned. Was she technically a student? And was he technically a lecturer? He wasn’t, really—it was only a sideline. This was his second year of doing it. And he’d done it more as a favor than anything else. And his CV, of course.
    But either way, it was a stupid idea. She wouldn’t be interested in him anyway.
    Daniel’s brow furrowed. When she’d looked at him and gone pink . . . and all those “sorrys,” she was just so adorable.
    But it was ridiculous. Obviously. He was just looking for a diversion. He didn’t even know her name, and “the girl from the men’s room” was hardly a good moniker. No, this wasn’t about her, he told himself firmly, it was about being bored in his job. He needed to tackle the root cause, not get strung out about some girl, however stunning she was.
    He picked up the phone. “Jane, can you get me a meeting with Frank for this afternoon? Thanks.”
    That ought to do it. A meeting with the finance director should put all ideas of romance firmly out of his head.

6
    Jen stared at the book in front of her and frowned. Had her life really come to this? She was sitting in the library, in Bell Consulting of all places, reading a book called
Financial Fundamentals,
which wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind when she’d taken on the challenge of a covert operation.
    She turned the book upside down and pushed her chair back. Sure, she didn’t want to rush into anything. Of course, she had to plan things properly and keep a low profile so that she didn’t get caught before she found out anything of importance. But there was a fine line between lying low and doing sod all just in case you get caught. And right now she was definitely erring on the side of doing sod all. Anyone would think that she was scared of actually seeing her father or something. Scared of what she might find. Anyone would think that Angel was right about this whole thing. Either that or they’d think that Jen was considering a career as an accountant.
    Jen closed the book and sighed. If she didn’t do something soon she’d forget why she was here. She stood up and wandered over to the section of the library entitled Supply Chain, which was reassuringly empty, and walked slowly down the aisle, trying to work out a plan.
    It was like Daniel said, she thought to herself. She needed to set out her mission and her objectives. Develop a strategy.
    She walked back to her table and picked up her pad and pen, concentrating hard.
    Mission: to end the corruption in Indonesia and bring the perpetrators to justice.
    For a moment, she basked in the idea of having such a noble mission, but then she shook her head. That wasn’t her mission, she thought, frowning. That was her strategy. The mission was to protect people whose houses had fallen down. Twice. People who trusted companies like Axiom to do what they promised. Her mission was to make sure that this time around, their houses were built properly, by firms that got the business because of their track record, not their ability to pay bribes. But how could she have any impact on something so big? She might as well have “world peace and an end to hunger” as her mission.
    Now there was an idea.
    She frowned, then decided to skip straight to the next line. Strategy: to uncover Bell’s involvement in the corruption—specifically the involvement of one George Bell—and to alert the authorities.
    Jen sat back, imagining herself handing her father over to the police in the manner