She eyed me. “Anything for love, of course.”

She grasped my hand between hers and gave me a sympathetic smile. “I know that you made that threat out of anxiety. Only love would make someone take such a risk, as you are taking for her, right Miss Palmer?”

Jack was still shaking his head from side to side. “I think this is a terrible idea but if you’re doing this, I’ll have to be next to you the whole time.”

SSA Black was about to say something, but I cut in, “Of course, Jack. You’re my security, after all.” I gave SSA Black a pointed look.

“That’s why I asked if you were still a good shot, Jack,” Allegra sighed.

I swung my head around to look at her again, surprised. “Why is that important?”

“Because these things rarely go according to plan,” Jack said gently. “I’ll insist that you wear some kind of bullet-proof protection to lessen the risks of you being hurt by something.”

SSA Black interrupted, “But not to worry. We’ll get you a seat as far away from him as possible, Miss Palmer.”

“And I insist that one of your monitoring cameras will be trained on us at all times, alright?” Jack asked sharply. “Someone better be tracking us the moment we step into the building.”

I shut my eyes as the two men argued about the arrangements. From Jack’s sharp questioning, it was clear that he was uncomfortable about the whole thing overall.   When their exchange got to the point wherein Jack understood that a physical inspection of the concert site, especially the VIP section could be arranged, I cut in, “Jack, why don’t you go ahead and do that, then, while I head back to the hotel and get some rest?”

This was a ruse. Jack knew I planned to leave for LA, and would fly back to Vegas the following morning. He checked his watch. I had about two hours before I had to show up in McCarran, if I were to safely get through security checks prior to boarding my flight.

He nodded. He looked at Allegra, who was still observing me. “Can I ask someone to take Miss Palmer back to her hotel?”

After she nodded, and turned her head to glance at her assistant, as if instructing him to arrange things, Jack turned to address the federal agent. “And I want to join you when you look at that VIP section, ok?”