“Sounds good.”

Ivan disappeared back inside and closed the door.

Cassie put a plate in front of Levi and took a second for herself. She motioned to the notebook Levi held. “What are you working on?”

“Actually, I had an idea of how to augment your security forces without taking jobs away from those who were injured.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“A combination of things actually.” Levi waved at the food in front of them. “Did you want to wait until after lunch to talk about this?”

“No. I’m curious.”

“I don’t know how your father would feel about it, but I have a friend who works for the CIA. He has a K-9 partner. Together, they specialize in bomb detection. They’re available, and I think I could get the Agency to lend them to your family for the next six months or so.”

“Why would they do that?”

“You awarded a huge contract to an American company,” Levi reminded her. “Even though Axion will hire a lot of locals, the US government has an interest in protecting its citizens.”

“I’m not sure my father will go for that, and I’d prefer not to mislead him.”

“The only way to know is to ask,” Levi said. “And for the record, I have no interest in trying to sneak agents onto the palace grounds.”

Cassie recognized the underlying meaning of his words. He wanted her trust as well as her father’s. “What else did you have in mind?”

“Remember when we talked to your cousin Crispan?”

“Yes.”

“He mentioned that he didn’t trust Pantheon.”

“That’s right. You’re the one who proved that mistrust was well founded.”

Levi shrugged off her statement. “Regardless, your cousin does know which security companies are good.”

“Wait. You’re thinking about having the royal family hire a security firm?”

“Yes. I spoke to Crispan last night.” He tapped on his notepad. “We found one that’s headquartered out of Madrid that employs quite a few citizens of Sereno. Most of their other employees are Spanish or French.”

Cassie considered the possibilities. In truth, if they hired enough guards to replace the injured, they would be overstaffed when they all returned. “How hard would it be to run the background checks on their people?”

“I already started.” Levi handed her his notebook. “I listed their nationalities beside their names.”

Cassie scanned the list. Four from Sereno, two from Spain, and another from France. Beneath those names, Levi had listed alternates from a number of European countries as well as two from Canada.

“This could work to augment our staff for the guards, but what do I do about Darius?” Though Cassie already knew who she wanted in the interim, she laid out the facts. “Paciano is doing his best to fill in, but he doesn’t have the experience to head our security force for six months.”

“If your father will allow it, I could work with Paciano while I’m here. With some training, he might be able to handle things until Darius returns.”