"Sanctuary"~ for the Short Affair Challenge 9/12

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Challenge: The Short Affair

-Prompt Word #1 - Chorus

-Prompt Colour – Crimson

Title: “Sanctuary”

Author: mrua7

Word Count: 974

It was the last place in which Solo and Kuryakin had expected their quarry to run.

After chasing him on foot for blocks, Arturo Sandoval made a quick turn up the steps and ran straight into St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church.

Of course the agents followed him there, taking the steps in leaps and bounds before heading through the large wooden doors leading inside. They stopped dead in their tracks as their abrupt entrance drew the attention of the people inside, with heads turning at the noise the agents made.

Napoleon and Illya’s guns that had been drawn just before they burst through the door, were immediately ducked out of sight back into their shoulder holsters.

“Shhh Hush!” A white haired woman silenced them, putting a warning finger to her lips.

The agents scanned the pews looking for Sandoval; not seeing him, they split up and walked the side aisles as they continued their search.

At the front of the church there was a small choir of boys dressed in white and crimson cassocks singing like cherubic angels. Ave Maria sung in chorus, with the voices of the children instantly bringing back childhood memories to Solo.

He hadn't been an altar boy nor could he sing well enough to be in the choir, but every Sunday Napoleon attended mass with his family. It was mandatory, no excuses; his mother insisted upon it. Once he was past his childish resentment of being forced to do something, Napoleon embraced his religion and found comfort in it through the rough patches in his life.

Though in recent years he wasn’t a regular attendee at church, going mostly for holidays like Easter and Christmas as U.N.C.L.E. kept him busy. That really wasn’t a good excuse for him not to go and he wasn’t quite sure why he stopped going.

His job required him to do unsavory things and he felt perhaps he was no longer worthy of entering God’s house. Though he believed in the sacrement of Penance; how could he tell a priest he killed people for the greater good? God would judge him when his time came.

This wasn’t a regular mass being celebrated today at St. Cecilia's, it was a funeral. A coffin draped in an American flag was standing in the center aisle in front of the altar.

One priest was eyeing Solo and Kuryakin with suspicion and with a wave of his hand two other priests dressed in their black vestments approached the agents.

“Are you here for the funeral of Colonel Miller?” One whispered to Napoleon.

“No, not exactly. My name is Napoleon Solo; my associate and I are with the U.N.C.L.E. and we’re looking for a criminal who came in here a few minutes ago.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Solo but under the laws of sanctuary you can’t...”

Napoleon bit his lower lip.” Father, I’m Catholic I do know about sanctuary.”

“Then you should have known better. Unless you are going to remain for the funeral, or to pray then I have to ask you and your friend to leave.”

“I understand Father, and my apologies.”

Solo looked across to his partner who was no doubt receiving a similar lecture. He shook his head to the Russian and waved him off.

They met outside on the front steps.

“Sanctuary? Illya practically snarled. “Thet still observe such a medieval tradition; it is the twentieth century for pity’s sake! There is a murderer in their midst and he can be given safe haven? It is like, like the Nazis getting a free pass for their crimes all over again!

It was obvious the Russian was angry, and he rarely showed such. It was true, former Nazis had been taken under the U.S. government’s wing, given protection for their knowledge, though sanctuary in a Catholic church wasn’t the same by any stretch of the imagination.

“Sanctuary no longer has any legal effect tovarisch but it has to be respected for the sake of tradition and the church.

“Napoleon, I am an atheist and therefore the traditions of any religious institution have no sway over me. I should be able to go inside and retrieve Sandoval for that reason.”

“No Illya you’re not going to do that. We have to respect the church. We’ll wait here until the funeral is over. In order for Sandoval to take advantage of sanctuary, if that’s indeed what he’s doing, he has to stay inside the church.”

“And what if he chooses to do that instead of trying to escape with the attendees of the funeral?”

“Then we talk to the head priest, and reason with him.”

The funeral was long over but there was no sign of Sandoval trying to leave. Napoleon finally peeked inside the church door and saw the man sitting in one of the pews.

He turned to Solo and toodled a hello with his fingers, laughing at the same time.

Illya remained behind while Napoleon went to the rectory next door, but all the pleading and reasoning in the world would not sway the priest.

When Solo emerged, he found his partner sitting beside the limp body of Sandoval at the base of the stairs outside the church.

“You didn’t, did you? I told you we had to respect sanctuary.”

Illya flashed a crooked smile. “I did as you asked. However I did give Sandoval a reason to leave on his own.”

Napoleon looked up and saw wisps of white smoke wafting from beneath the church door.

“Illya what did you do?”

“I threw a couple of smoke bombs inside and when Sandoval emerged, I hit him with a sleep dart.”

“Proud of yourself aren’t you tovarisch?”

“Pride has nothing to do with it; I simply came up with a novel solution to our predicament. Now shall I call for a clean up crew or would you like to do so?”

Napoleon grinned. “Sometimes you can really be a smart Russian, you know that?”

“Yes I do,”Illya chuckled.”You have told me this before.”

Comments

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

I love the imagery in the beginning. And heh, gotta love how pragmatic Illya is!

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!!!

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! Illya knows how to solve a problem without any fuss, LOL.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. When trying to come up with a solution I suddenly asked WWIKD. what would Illya Kuryakin do? And there you have it. lol!

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

A fine fic and a great problem, with a fine and Illya-ish solution. Well written, too.

Also, I loved Napoleon's memeories, and hope that he will feel more welcome in church soon. After all, he's not a mercenary, but fighting for the right.

Even the Thrush is original and solid. I must quote: He turned to Solo and toodled a hello with his fingers, laughing at the same time.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Hey you were able to comment. That's great. Thank you again for all the wonderful things you've said.

It made sense to me for Napoleon to have feelings about the church/religion in which he was raised. He's still conflicted though because of the things he's had to do.

The line about the THRUSH waving to Solo is one of my favorites. It gives such a great visual.

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

Illya found a way to keep the sanctuary sacred and still do his job. Very good fic!

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the comment. No one has ever said toddles to you? Now you learned something new. :D