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The asshole hadn’t even noticed the duffel Jolie wore like a pack. She’d kept herself angled away from him.

Thankfully, she hadn’t told him she had the container. He was sure the men had no intention of leaving witnesses behind. Handing over Cyril would have only increased her odds of dying quickly.

He was in love with a smart woman.

As soon as the gun moved far enough from Jolie, Ford moved. He didn’t want the gun aimed at Thea either.

A crash and another shot happened behind him. He’d known Knox was creating a distraction, so he didn’t so much as blink. Instead, he swung the door hard, slapping it against the wall. The noise and the movement had both men turning to him.

Both the assholes flinched and Ford started to pull the trigger to take the first one down.

Hemsworth and Fox raced through the back door. The dogs flew at the two men, knocking them to the floor. One of their guns fired as Ford moved forward to kick them away. He couldn’t take his eyes off them to find out if the bullet hit anyone. “Jolie? You okay? Thea? Anyone hurt?”

It was difficult to hear over the dogs barking and the men swearing. He couldn’t take his eyes off the men, so he repeated his questions.

He sensed Jolie approach before she touched his back. “We’re both good. We’re safe. But he said there were more men.”

Knox walked through the door. “We’ve got two of them in the library. We’ll find out if there are more.”

Jolie spoke up. “Creep Two mentioned there were two more. He implied that was all.”

Ford grinned. “Good. We’ve probably got them all, but we’ll do a sweep just in case. Any more zip ties, Annie?”

“All out, but there are more here in the kitchen.” He rummaged through the drawers and soon they had the men tied and under the watchful eye of the two dogs who continued to growl. If either men moved, one of them barked in warning.

“Police.” Marcus’s voice called through the opening where the door had been.

Ford raised his voice. “In the kitchen, Marcus. Four men in custody and secure.”

The police chief moved in with his gun out but facing down. Another officer moved in with him. “Where are the other two?”

Knox spoke up. “This way.”

Knox took Thea’s hand, and they moved to lead the officer to the library.

Ford breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his gun. With his other arm, he wrapped Jolie into him and kissed her hair. “You’re amazing and kickass, and I’m so damn proud of how you handled everything. But we need to find out if there are more people with them.”

She nodded and wrapped her arms around him. “I knew you’d get them. I knew you’d make sure we were safe. Thank you.”

Her words filled him up. He wanted to tell her all the things he was feeling, but this wasn’t the time. “When we’ve cleaned up the asshole mess, I’ve got things to say.”

She smiled up at him. “Me, too.”

Marcus grinned at them both. “Sounds like that should be a private conversation. We’ll get this done as quickly as we can, but it’s going to be a while.”

Jolie squeezed Ford and smiled at the chief. “That’s okay. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

And that sounded amazing.

Marcus’s phone beeped, and he pulled it out. “Backup is here. We’ve got FBI agents and more military officers here to help with this mess.”

The eyes of the men on the ground widened. Ford knew the people coming were allformerFBI andformermilitary, but these asswipes didn’t need to know that. The more fear, the better.

They separated the four men into different rooms, with at least two of the good guys with each. Hemsworth didn’t leave Jolie’s side while Fox had disappeared into the orchard after he’d hugged both Thea and Knox, and got rubdowns from his other friends.

Ford and Jolie stayed with Marcus and Nico Rivera, a former FBI profiler and current member of the Midnight Security team. They remained in the kitchen with the jerk who’d had his weapon pressed against Jolie’s forehead.

Marcus and Nico lifted the man and set him into a chair. Marcus had patted the man down and had found a knife strapped to his ankle, but no other weapons. He’d found a wallet, though. What kind of idiot took his wallet along for the ride when he was committing a crime? Dumbass.