Page 75 of Her Ruthless Protector

It made her sick to her stomach thinking about the fact that all these fans’ and contestants’ safety was in the hands of rent-a-cops.

“Okay, that takes care of the incoming fans, but it doesn’t take care of every little piece of equipment and personal belonging we currently have out here now.” Kane turned to A.J.. “Are you going to let us do a search of everybody’s trailer?”

“Absolutely not,” Don Salise spoke up before A.J. had a chance to respond. “We have forty-two acts, not to mention the delegations from each of the countries. They would have kittens. I’d have people backing out, I’d have people lawyering up.”

Kane ignored Don and turned to A.J.. “Is that true?”

“The people who cooperated would be innocent, it would be the ones who didn’t cooperate that would be under suspicion, right?”

Kane nodded. “I see your point,” he said. “But maybe with the help of our esteemed friends in the Oman Police Department we could get everyone to cooperate.”

A.J. nodded toward Rashid for a response.

Rashid stood up from where he was sitting to the side of the group of men. “Unfortunately, no. I am not here in an official capacity,” he said smoothly.

“Then what good is he?” Kane asked her under his breath.

A.J. scowled at him. Then she turned to Don. “How about if we asked people to let us search? We say it has to do with the sabotage that had gone on, and anybody who kicks up a fuss, we put extra eyes on them, does that work?” She looked from Don to Kane and back again.

“I would approve that.” Don said.

“I say we search Amber and her people again,” Shelly said. “Just on the principle of the thing.”

Everybody laughed.

Don’s eyes twinkled. “Doesn’t bother me.”

“Maybe this time we can prove she was in on it. I still don’t buy the fact that her publicist was working on her own. Causing people to drop out so Amber had a better chance of winning might have enhanced her career, but ultimately I think Amber was behind the sabotage,” Shelly said.

A.J. disagreed. Amber had her head stuck so far up her own ass, there was no way she would have thought she needed any kind of sabotage to win.

“I volunteer to search her trailer,” Cullen said.

“I’ll help you, Mate. You need a stagehand to go along with you,” Chet said.

Kane ignored them. “We have a shit ton to do today. As soon as the meeting is adjourned, we have a no-fly zone. We have fourteen tunnels leading into the field, all of them will have two men at the outside entrance and two men stationed on the inside entrance. This gives us the added advantage of having eyes on the outside.”

“That’s good. I like that,” Ed nodded.

Kane took off his sunglasses and squinted up at the men. “Nobody is getting by without a thorough search of their person, any baggage, carts, or vehicles. I know we have a ton coming in for tomorrow night’s Semi-Final performance, but I want it looked over with a fine-toothed comb.”

“I’ll set up a roster for the fifty-six men needed for the tunnels. They’ll have twelve-hour shifts. I’ve already upped my count from one hundred to one-sixty. When you figure that one hundred and twelve of the one-sixty will be guarding the tunnels because of the twelve-hour shifts, that will leave me with forty-eight to patrol the rest of the field,” Ed said.

A.J. saw Kane’s jaw tighten.

Maybe some of Ed’s guys would be good, she thought desperately. This was not good. This was not good.

Stop it!

She looked down at her hands. Turned them over, palms up. She could do this. She always did this. That was her role. She got things done. For just a moment she thought she saw one hand trembling.

Nope.

Suck it up, Lancaster.

Kane gave her a sideways glance. She gave him a tight-lipped smile and he nodded.

“Okay, so you have forty-eight men who can patrol the field. That’s great,” Kane said to Ed. “Anything, and I mean anything, that is questionable goes to one of my guys, got it?”