Something more

            Ian woke with a slight start as he heard muffled voices and sounds from the living room downstairs. He listened for a few seconds; there were three of them by his guess.

            He got out of bed and drew one of the long swords that hung in their scabbards on a hook behind his door before proceeding downstairs, silent as Ed’s cat which was stalking off in the opposite direction.

            The lights were off and with the curtains drawn it was almost pitch black in the living room. One of the intruders banged his knee into the heavy oaken coffee table and swore under his breath, or at least that’s what Ian decided to believe.

            They were spread out across the room, which gave Ian the advantage. Finally some of their parkour training would come in handy. Ian silently charged at the closest man, hitting him with the flat of the blade on the chest. The man hunched over in pain and Ian knocked his feet out from under him.

            Next he pounced on the guy off to his left. He knocked the wind right out of him with the pommel of his sword before smashing his face with his fist. Finally he turned to the man closest the coffee table. Ian used the sofa in between him and the intruder as a springboard, raising the blade as you would a baseball bat and getting ready to swing fiercely at the man’s head. As he flew through the air, Ian noticed the man’s right hand was up, fingers spread out and straight except for the ring finger which appeared to be missing after the first third.

            Ian landed right in front of the man and gave him a quick whack with the flat of the blade on the forehead before walking over to the wall and switching on the lights. Rolling helplessly on the ground was JR and Bernard. Standing uselessly in front of the coffee table was Ed.

  “I could have killed you morons!” said Ian with a bit more anger in his voice than he meant to. He wasn’t angry at them for waking him up, but rather for not thinking, had he drawn a gun on them, they’d be dead.

  “Sorry, buddy,” said JR as he got to his feet and helped Bernard to his.

  “What are you doing here at this forsaken hour anyway?”

  “I had to go pick them up at the place,” said Edward.

  “Ah, I see. Wait, haven’t you been drinking?”

  “Meh,”

  “Oh dear,” said Ian and smiled. He couldn’t help but see the humour in this now. “Berries, you gonna crash here until everyone is sober?”

  “Yeah, sure,” said Bernard, “It’s not like I’ve got my car with me,”

  “Good, then I’m off to bed, again,” said Ian and he stalked off back up the stairs.

  “Where’s?” JR asked and gestured with cupped hands in front of his chest.

  “Probably lying naked on top of his bed,” said Bernard.

  “She’s gone,” said Ed, “think they broke up before I got here,”

  “Cool, I’ll console her,” said Bernard.

  “She’s Ian’s ex,” said JR.

  “Which makes her single,”

  “I don’t think Ian would mind,” said Ed.

            Ian got back to his room, sheathing the long sword back in place and then went to his bed. He stopped in front of it for a second before turning left and heading to his desk and switching his computer on. The enormous case, which was almost as high as his desk, beeped once and was silent. The three LED screens came to life as Windows booted up and finally his desktop was visible.

            He sat down in front of the screens, opened a media player and threw the window to the one screen with a flick of his mouse, then he opened some browser windows and other applications and started with his hunt. It would be hours before the others come to bother him. In fact, had he gone to sleep now he would still wake long before the others did.

            The sun was full out when Ian was finished with his cyber hunt. He had found his target within hours and was now just baiting the hook. Soon, thanks to his hunt, the prey will be in custody and won’t bother anyone else again.

            Ian headed down stairs and started with breakfast. As he suspected, the others were still fast asleep. The lack of Bernard in the living room meant that JR remembered they had a spare bedroom.

            Ian had just about finished with the bacon and eggs, boiling the kettle, putting out the cups and readying the coffee when Ed strolled down the stairs, his cat following quietly behind him.