Guarding Your Heart

Chapter 3

"What do you mean, someone's here?" Lucy whispered as she scooted across the bed to hide herself like she was told to do.

She grabbed Fíli's outstretched hand for support as she carefully lowered herself between her bed and the wall.

"Stay quiet and do not move," he instructed. He was about to leave when he noticed Lucy's expression. Her eyes were wide but unfocused and she was biting her lip.

"Hey... I've got this," he tried to reassure her, his eyes searching hers to let her know she would be okay. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her. "This is the reason I'm here, right? To keep you safe."

Lucy nodded and swallowed heavily.

This was suddenly becoming far too real. Not even a minute ago they were having something close to a conversation for once. It was the most they've talked since he arrived, even if it was her prying for information about his brother, and now someone broke into her house? They were here for her? This couldn't be happening, she was supposed to be safe!

"Don't come out until I say you can," he repeated, before he crossed the space of her room to the landing, his gun pointed and ready to fire if necessary.

Fíli's eyes followed a dark figure moving through the living room. He watched the intruder sift through some of his papers on the coffee table before he searched the contents of his duffle bag that was sitting beside the couch.
Fili remained still, his gun held firmly in his hands, daring the unknown person to make their way up the stairs. Maybe this was just a regular robbery and they weren't after Lucy, but Fíli wasn't taking any chances.

He kept an eye on the intruder from his hiding place on the landing, waiting to make his move the moment it presented itself.

By now he could tell that the threat was most likely alone, male, slightly taller than him but thin, but he wasn't able to make out much else. The lanky way he was moving around made Fíli suspect he wasn't a very skilled fighter. Maybe he was a scout?

He watched the man go into Lucy's office and Fili took that as his cue to creep down the stairs and position himself at the bottom, turning him into an obstacle between them and Lucy. If they wanted to go upstairs, they had to go through him first.

The condo was dark, but not dark enough to disguise Fili completely and the intruder spotted him as soon as he came out of Lucy's office.

Fili saw him take out a switch-blade and he had to stop himself from laughing at such a poor choice of weapon. Yet another telltale sign that this was not an experienced criminal. He almost felt sorry for the guy, but if there was one thing he learned, it was to never underestimate your opponent. Something his brother often forgot.

He did want to bring a sense of fairness to the situation, so Fili tucked his gun back in his waistband and allowed for the man to take the first approach.

Fíli was very skilled in hand-to-hand combat and although it had been a long time since his last decent fist fight, he found himself actually looking forward to this.

The guy wasted no time and immediately came charging at Fíli, his knife held out in front of him.

Fíli had anticipated this and he blocked the first blow from the knife by quickly gripping the man's wrist and twisting it, while effortlessly deflecting a punch from the other arm at the same time. The intruder had no choice but to let go of his weapon, and Fíli quickly kicked it away, sending it scattering across the floor.

This was going too easy, he thought. What if this guy was serving as a distraction and someone else was getting ready to make a separate attack? Or worse, they were already upstairs with Lucy?