blood moon, marc spector

ten.

WITH PART ONE OF THEIR TASK COMPLETED, A GRENADE TAKING OUT THE REMAINING GUARDS, LILITH AND MARC NOW JUST HAD TO TAKE DOWN THE KINGPIN HIMSELF. which, of course, sounded like the more difficult part of the job. but lilith knew too much about this kingpin to be too worried about this second part of their mission. he was overconfident to a severe fault, and she doubted he'd ever expect someone to make it through his guards, much less to the man himself.

jabez, thankfully, had given lilith and marc some proposed blueprints of the house, which would hopefully help them find their way to the master bedroom, where they anticipated the man to be hiding.

marc and lilith hadn't said anything to each other as they ventured back into the mountains. lilith felt a little embarrassed by the fact that marc spector, of all people, had been forced to save her life. the fact that she'd needed his help in any capacity was embarrassing and damn near humiliating for her, but the fact that he'd genuinely saved her from getting killed was sticking out like a scarlet letter on her usual "badass-ery", as frenchie would've called it.

the kingpin's house was hidden in a small town in the forest, with the goal of looking unassuming. if she had to make a bet, lilith would guess that most of the houses in the area were either vacant or once filled with the guards that she and marc had just killed.

lilith looked through the window of one of the small houses, seeing absolutely nothing that suggested anyone had lived in it for months. she looked over her shoulder at marc, who seemed to be getting the same result from the house he was looking at.

"that's the one?" marc asked, pointing to the unassuming house near the middle of the small cluster of homes.

she nodded, remembering the blue rooftop and shutters from the picture in jabez's briefing. "looks like it."

"after you."

lilith held her gun close to her chest as she moved around the corner of the house, peering into a window. she could see a man holding a large, heavy looking kind of machine gun, unmistakably loading it. "shit." she said, her back hitting the wall as she tried to get out of sight. "i think they know we're here."

"shit." marc echoed. "you're sure?"

"yeah. looked like someone loading a gun."

"how many bodies?"

she shook her head. "hard to tell. definitely more than we thought, though."

marc took a deep breath. "okay, we need a new plan. we can't go in there without knowing how many people in there are armed." he turned to look at her. "are you even listening to me?"

lilith was digging through the pocket of her green jacket. "i've got one left." she said as she pulled her other small grenade. "if we're smart about this.."

"you sure that's a good idea?" marc asked, his eyes a little wide. "that's gonna start a lot of noise, and we don't know if there are other people in the area. just because those two houses were empty doesn't mean they all are."

"if we're fast enough, we can be hidden in the forest."

marc seemed to be calculating every possible option in his head before he nodded. "fine. do it. but we need to make sure we're out of the way when that thing goes off. we won't have long before everyone in the area is on us."

lilith nodded, thinking for a moment. "i just need to get it rolling inside the house somewhere. give me that blueprint."

he rustled around in the pocket of his gray jacket for a moment before pulling out the paper jabez had given them and handing it to her.

lilith held the blueprint up as she leaned around the corner to look for a way in. "think they have a chimney or something?"

marc glanced around the opposite corner. "yeah, i see one. it's not a big one but it could work."

"works for me." lilith said as she crouched under the window, leading the way to the other side of the house as marc followed closely behind her. once she saw the chimney, she shook her head. it was way too high up for her to reasonably toss a grenade into it from the ground. "shit."

"i can lift you." marc suggested casually, as if it wasn't the craziest idea he'd ever had. he crouched down, gesturing for her to climb onto his shoulders.

she blinked at him, processing her other options. there weren't any. "this is so stupid." she mumbled, awkwardly grabbing onto his shoulders as she balanced onto them. she could feel him chuckle at her comment as he stood up, grabbing her thighs to stabilize her.

"just focus on getting that grenade into the chimney." he said.

lilith nodded, trying to ignore the feeling of his hands on her thighs. "yep. just like playing chicken in a swimming pool, right?"

another chuckle moved through his body. "yeah, except you're dealing with a grenade instead of a kiddy pool."

"no big deal." she replied, trying to eye the new distance between herself and the small chimney. she could feel him tighten his hold on her thighs in an attempt to stabilize her as she moved closer to the chimney. the distance seemed to be close enough for her to throw the grenade down the chimney, if she was lucky. "okay. i'm gonna detonate this thing. how fast do you think you can get me back on the ground?"

"i can get us both out of the way in under ten seconds." he replied. "can you throw the grenade that fast?"

"yeah, i was basically a fast pitch softball pro when i was eight." she joked

"alright, hot shot. you sure you can still throw like an eight year old pro?"

"positive." she replied, though in truth she was nervous. "you're sure you can get me down in ten seconds?"

marc avoided the exact question again. "i'm sure i can get us out of the blast zone in ten seconds. just focus on not letting the grenade land at my feet."

lilith nodded, letting out a sigh to focus herself as she looked at the device in her hand. "okay. three, two, one." she pulled the pin and gave it a toss into the small opening of the chimney. as soon as it was out of sight, she instinctively tugged at marc's hair with her free hand. "go go go."

marc started sprinting away from the house with lilith still on his shoulders, yelling multiple complaints. she somehow managed to flip them over, resulting in the two of them rolling down the hill together and into the forest.

sure enough, though, when lilith stood up, a hand to her head, she and marc were well away from the blast zone as the grenade went off.

"what the fuck was that?" she asked as she looked over at marc. "i thought you said you were gonna set me down first?"

marc panted, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "i said i'd get us out of the blast zone. i didn't say anything about putting you down first." he replied, a hint of a smirk on his lips.

"that was a horrible experience." she continued to complain.

marc leaned his back against a nearby tree, chuckling at her complaints. "yeah, well, you're the one who decided to use me as a human ladder."

"and it worked." she said, looking at the building that was now in flames.

"guess you really were a softball prodigy when you were eight." he replied.

lilith crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned against a tree opposite marc, watching to make sure no one left the building. once it seemed clear, she eased up, clearing her throat. "we need to get back to that trolley soon."

marc, who generally specialized in egyptian missions, furrowed his brows. "why?"

"you've never been to turkey before? if we don't make that one lift, we're stuck here all night." lilith told him. "trust me, french and i were stuck out here one night a few years back."

he didn't seem to like the sound of that. "what do you mean we'd be stuck here all night?"