blood moon, marc spector

fifteen.

THE FIRST FEW HOURS IN ATHENS WERE SPENT TRYING TO LOCATE WHERE THEIR TARGET WAS. leo vasilakis was hiding in plain sight, and his allies weren't even sure of his whereabouts. 

"oἶδας τοῦτον τὸν ἄνθρωπον;" lilith asked a woman in the street. she'd asked the question countless times in the last few minutes. 'do you know this man?' 

many of the people that she spoke to sent her confused looks. lilith could understand modern greek, but was really only good at composing sentences in ancient greek, which she'd learned in high school. her question was the same as someone speaking in shakespearean. 

despite this minor language barrier, most still understood her (though she probably spoke like their great grandfather). an older woman looked at the picture of leo in lilith's hand, and her eyes widened in recognition. she pointed towards an apartment complex, one of the five that the mercenaries had narrowed down to. 

"είναι εκεί." the woman said, looking up at the complex. 'he is there,' lilith translated. 

"ευχαριστώ." lilith thanked the woman, shoving the picture back into her pocket. 

on a mission now, lilith grabbed frenchie's arm, dragging him away from a conversation with a man who didn't speak any english. 

"i've got him." lilith said. "where are charles and remy?"

frenchie, who was much taller than her, glanced out at the crowd in the agora, spotting the two of them speaking with another man. 

"he's in there." lilith informed the two, her voice hushed. "did you guys keep track of everyone you spoke to? we don't want any loose strings here." 

the three men nodded, easing her worries. the last thing they needed was leo's mercenary group on their tail. 

"lili, you go in first." frenchie began forming a plan. "the three of us can be perched nearby. i'll go in behind you, charles outside, remy down the hall. we can't take any risks with leo's friends."

"hopefully we're just in and out." lilith agreed.

remy's brows furrowed. "i know we're doing what we're paid to do here, but isn't it suspicious that leo has this whole group of people going after niko? employer or not, clearly he isn't the best guy."

"are you suggesting we leave?" frenchie asked, his brows furrowed.

charles shook his head. "he's got a point. maybe we're going after the wrong guy here."

"we're doing our job." lilith replied, a hint of finality to her tone. "we go in, we finish the job, we get paid. ethics and morals aren't a part of it."

remy nodded. "yeah. yeah, i know." 

all of them had enlisted years ago to make the world a better place. was this what that was? eliminating people who may have committed no crime? lilith couldn't think about it too much without wanting to pick up a glass of wine, which she'd sworn off of. 

"let's go." she said after a moment, holding onto her gun under her jacket. 

once inside the building, remy stopped at the foot of the stairs to look for any surprise guests. frenchie followed lilith, both of them holding their guns in front of their faces. charles was outside, on the lookout for any other anomalies. 

it was frenchie's idea to kick down the door, which lilith thought was comically stereotypical. it worked, though, and lilith stepped over the debris as she walked into the apartment. 

he couldn't have been expecting them, they'd kept their trail too clean. lilith went one way while frenchie went the other, both of them coming up empty.