"A real hot time"~ for the Short Affair 12/21

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Challenge: The Short Affair

-Prompt Word #2 – Faith

-Prompt Colour – Gold

Author: Mrua7

Title: A real hot time

Word count: 780

“This is not exactly where I’d have expected to spend the Winter Solstice,” Illya said as he looked down at the arid landscape.

“Well given your track record with your visits to Egypt I can understand that,” Solo nodded.

“No, it has nothing to do with Egypt per se, though I do agree with you about my...as you say, track record. It it more so being in an awfully warm and dry country.  I was hoping to be skiing on some lovely slope in the Alps but instead I am staring down at the temple at Karnak.”

It was their third day waiting for their contact to arrive and they were just about ready to give up.

“Well duty called and here we are, so let’s make the best of it.”

“Napoleon did you know that  Karnak Temple was built in alignment with the solstice in order to focus light on a shrine to the sun god?”

“No I wasn’t aware of it, but all I’m concerned about is meeting our contact and getting that information,” he tugged at the collar of his khaki shirt. Solo, who rarely showed any perspiration under the most dire of conditions was actually sweating. That meant if he felt bad, his Slavic partner no doubt, felt worse.

“Hey I had plans myself to be at a nice cozy ski lodge in Vermont over the Christmas holiday, hopefully wooing a beautiful woman, “ Napoleon sighed.

“Is that all you think about?”

“Among other things,” the American winked.

Illya didn’t even bother to roll his eyes at that answer. What was the point? Napoleon Solo was a creature of habit, and that as they say was that.

“I say we be done with this; the contact is not coming,” Illya grumbled.

“There,”Napoleon pointed to the largest obelisk bathed in the orange-gold light of the midday sun.

”Oh ye of little faith; I think our contact has finally arrived.” Together he and his partner breathed a sigh of relief. Soon they’d be out of this heat. They’d managed to procure hotel accommodations with air conditioning and as soon as the transaction had been concluded they’d be heading back there to cool off.

They’d transmit the information to Headquarters in London, and then they could arrange their transportation back to New York. Maybe their holiday plans would happen after all?

A woman in a dark flowing robe, her head and lower half of her face masked by a hijab approached the monument. She reached forward, placing her palm against it...that was the signal to the agents that she was the contact.

Napoleon and Illya arrived at the obelisk, giving the passcode to the woman.

“They say it’s snowing in Bombay,” Napoleon whispered as he looked upward at the hieroglyphs cut deep into the stone as he acted the part of a tourist, though his pith helmet did look a little strange.

“And emperor penguins are surfing in Tahiti,” she gave the bizarre but proper response. It was a voice Solo and Kuryakin knew quite well as it was none other than April Dancer.

“Why all the intrigue?” Napoleon laughed.

“And you are late,” Illya grumbled as he walked past her, pretending to examine the obelisk.

“I didn’t know you were going to be my contact, darlings. Plus I had to make sure I blended in and wasn’t being followed. I'd been tailed the last few days, and sadly I was under radio silence for that reason."

Her black robe fluttered in the hot desert breeze." I have to say this outfit is surprisingly cool. The heat created from the robe alone isn’t enough, as the heat is needed from the dark material. It makes you sweat and holds on to the moisture so you can keep cooler. The black robes also keeps the sun from burning my skin. Honestly though, I could do with a cold shower and air conditioning as my hotel had neither."

“We have both in ours,” Napoleon smiled seductively.

Illya huffed...why did he have a feeling he’d be sleeping in the hotel lobby, as it looked like his partner was going to be able to woo a woman sooner than expected. It came as no surprise really, as he knew Napoleon and April had been lovers for some time.

“Don’t worry Illya,” She could see the look on his face.” I’m not going to let you evict yourself from your hotel room. There’s going to be no shenanigans, have you got that Napoleon dear?   I just want to use your shower and take a nap in air conditioning, then I’ll be leaving on a flight to meet Mark in Cypress.”

There was a look of disappointment in Solo’s eyes.

“Don’t worry lover, another time perhaps?” She smiled, knowing it would be a while before she and Napoleon would be able to meet up again. Theirs was an open relationship, and she was aware he still played the field. She wasn't exactly an angel herself either.

Napoleon was...Napoleon. The day would come when some lucky woman would capture his heart for good. April didn’t plan on being that girl. Though she adored and cared for Solo, she didn’t have those permanent sort of feelings towards him, nor he towards her.

That worked out for the best...

"Fair enough," Illya responded." We are staying at the Hotel Cairo, room 301. He walked off, not waiting for a response. Napoleon turned and followed him, not saying another word.

He was looking forward to that Christmas in Vermont after ll; now he just needed a date.

Comments

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It was a pretty distant Christmas hint but it ended up being a nice contrast to the hot setting. Seriously, I can't wait for the holiday to be over.