Page 80 of Her Ruthless Protector

“You know, I sometimes see you naked. And asleep. And I know where your knife is. Don’t screw with me, Boy.” Kane could hear the laughter and frustration in her voice. “Tonight isn’t a huge night for dignitaries. But we do have a couple of pop stars from England, the US and Norway.”

“Gotchya.”

“But seriously Kane, I told you about the royalty that’s coming before. Shelly gave you that list.”

“I know, calm down,” Kane soothed her. “You did everything right. It’s just we haven’t really talked about tonight’s attendees.”

“Do you think it’s tonight?”

“I’m not ruling out a damn thing. But we’ve got a lot put into place to stop something from happening. Diligence is our watchword.”

“Kane,” she whispered. “There are plenty of places we haven’t been able to scope out that might have hidden a gun already.”

“A.J., that could happen anywhere, anytime. This is something different. This is our job. We’re going to stop it. It’s what we do.”

He heard her breathe out a long breath. “Okay.”

“Get back to work. Have Shelly e-mail me with the two semi-final special guest lists, I’ll distribute it.”

“I’m on it.”

She hung up without saying good-bye. She always did that.

“She’s a pistol,” Hunter grinned. “How often does she threaten you with a knife?”

“She seems to have fixated on my knife in the last twelve hours,” Kane admitted. “Now that you’ve had time for your brain to melt in this oven, what do you think are our major vulnerabilities?”

“I disagree with Max and Gray, I don’t think it’s the VIP boxes. I think we can minimize that by the scanner you’re bringing in. I’m afraid they’ll punt, Kane. I think they’ll see all the safeguards we’ve put in and they’ll just go for the old-fashioned suicide bombers.”

Kane barely suppressed a deep sigh. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking the same thing. The patrol we have on the rooftop is a dead damn giveaway, but what else would you have us do?”

“Not a damn thing different,” Hunter admitted. “You know our intel could be wrong. It could be one of the other targets.”

“I know, but my gut says no. Anyway, just to be dicks about it, because we’re focusing on this event, the Oman Army is more than happy to have a high-profile presence on the airport, the OPEC meeting and the Amnesty Summit. They just don’t want to have anything to do with the Americans here at the Song Contest.”

“That’s just all kinds of wrong.”

Kane agreed. He’d talked to Max. Hopefully Liam would track down the mole who was spewing bullshit to the Sultan. Meanwhile, it was up to Night Storm and Black Dawn to ensure that the Eurovision Song Contest stayed safe. Hell, it was up to Kane to make sure that A.J. stayed safe. “Thanks, Hunter, keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, if there’s anything else you think of, give a holler.”

“Will do.”

Kane started to crawl away from his friend when Hunter called out to him again.

“Kane, I know it goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway,” he hesitated. “Zed, man.” Hunter paused again. “I’m forever in your debt. You ever need anything. And I mean anything. A body buried, anything. I’m there for you.”

“I hear you.” Kane nodded.