Chapter 16: The army’s delayed intervention

My body was trembling and exhausted as I hugged Daryna. In that moment, something truly incredible happened. At first, we heard some really loud engine sounds in the distance. Guess what! Three helicopters appeared! Oh my goodness, they had Peruvian emblems! I gave a little shout into the walkie-talkie: “Please, don’t shoot. This is the army, folks.”

The helicopters dispersed. One flew to the Palazzo, one towards the village and the third headed directly towards us. My rescuer Daryna had rushed down quickly to hide her. Before I had a chance to leave the roof, a loudspeaker announcement sounded in Spanish. I got up and raised my arms, feeling a little nervous but excited too.

Olivia was there in a flash, shouting from the roof exit, “You should lie down and stretch your arms away from you.” I followed that immediately. I was so excited and tired from the fight; I just lay in the sun, trying to sort out my thoughts. My arms and legs hurt, especially my head was throbbing. I even noticed I’d peed myself! The adrenaline and fear had my body under control. I had a really pointless thought: No one should notice this embarrassment.

“Olivia. Tell everyone on the radio to hide their weapons and stay under cover. If someone shoots, we’re all dead.”

After a quick “Okay!” I was on my own.

Oh dear, that helicopter was just above me, circling around a bit too close for comfort. I didn’t understand the next loudspeaker announcement just by the noise alone. I indicated it with hints to the ears. Suddenly the helicopter turned off and landed on the street in front of the guesthouse. The other two flew down our valley. Then one of them was standing right above the guesthouse again, so that he could fire at any time. The third helicopter circled over our headquarters. I heard voices in the house, then someone jumped out of the skylight. The soldier shouted something to me. I don’t know what he wanted. I told him that I only know English. I felt the barrel of his rifle painfully between the ribs. He forced me to get up. A second soldier at the hatch made stupid remarks and they both cheered. Surely you had seen my wet pants.

To all the misfortune, I could see almost nothing. I had concrete crumbs in my eyes, which I had rubbed deeper into them when trying to wipe them away. My eyes burned terribly. Something dripped from my chin. I rubbed my right eye; there was blood on my hand. Carefully, I groped down the ladder. A third soldier tied my hands on my back with the greatest possible force. My pain was almost unbearable. My head was buzzing. For a moment it turned black before my eyes.

The two soldiers led me out of the house. Fortunately, the officer who was waiting in front of the house spoke at least a few words of English. He wanted to know where my soldiers were. When I said, “There are no soldiers here.” I got a blow with the butt of the rifle, after which I fell. I was no longer ready to get up. My strength was at an end. Above me, one of the soldiers gasped in anger and tore at my cuffed arms to pull me up, but my legs failed their service.

A little later, one of the soldiers shouted: “Mama Olivia.”

My brain was working weakly. I did not understand the meaning of the words.

Suddenly, a hand with a cloth gently dabbed my forehead and face. At this a voice said tenderly, “Don’t be afraid, my dear. I’m with you.”

Olivia, my angel, cleaned my head as far as possible. She was crying. Then a dialogue came to me. Olivia scolded the officer. He shouted back. A voice tried to calm both of them. I carefully opened my eyes. They were burning like crazy. “My eyes, please, my eyes.”

Olivia dabbed my eyes very carefully. She was my saving angel. Again she scolded the Peruvian officer. A little later, my shackles were cut through. Finally, I was able to clean my eyes a little myself. The towel was bloody throughout; only one tip was still good for the eyes. Olivia called something and Alejandra came with a bottle of water and new towels. All of a sudden, I was pulled up. Olivia had invited everyone to the terrace, I learned later. It would finally be peace.

I tucked the blood-soaked towel into my belt so that my soaking would not be immediately apparent. Later I did not understand this touch of shame and vanity. We stopped short of the stairs. He was talking to Olivia again. She picked up the walkie-talkie. “Sula, Babette, come here, please. The officer wants to see you.”

The answer almost knocked me over. “Babette is seriously injured ... I’ll try to help her to the car. We’ll come with the buggy.”

When the golf cart came towards us, Sula was already screaming from a distance. At first I didn’t understand why, but later I realised that I must have looked terrible. My head and shoulders were covered in blood, as was the towel on my stomach. She jumped out of the golf car and ran screaming to me. She looked at me. “Are you dying? No, please don’t.” She was shaking with fear. With great difficulty Olivia managed to calm Su down.

The officer wanted to know who had blown up the armoured car. Sula pointed at Babette. I ran to her. Her left trouser leg was soaked with blood. She had been shot several times. I stroked her and could only whisper, “Thank you, my love.”

Meanwhile the officer was at the car. Babette had to be taken to the doctor immediately. The officer let Sula drive to the main house with a soldier. Luckily, Sula knew how to open the gate. I saw Ramona and Esther with a stretcher. They had not noticed my waving and shouting.

A little later, we were sitting on the terrace of the guesthouse. Alejandra served us coffee and pita bread. It was only then that I noticed that her dear granddaughter was wearing her bright yellow dress and the familiar cross around her neck. That’s why one of the soldiers had shouted: “Mama Olivia!” Ernesto’s article seemed to be widely known. Olivia had read the situation well and reacted wisely. The officer wanted to know, in a gruff voice, who had fought it all. He didn’t believe that the four of us had won the battle.

Olivia translated my words to him that we were only four fighters, two teenagers, one of them seriously injured, a woman who was a guest, and me. He shook his head unwillingly. “Who shot down the helicopter?” Olivia translated.

“A woman, Daryna Vernushina.” I was about to say something else when she stepped out onto the terrace accompanied by a soldier. No one was able to communicate with her sufficiently until the officer had the pilot taken out of the helicopter, who spoke some French.

We all did not understand what Daryna said. Olivia wanted to whisper the Spanish translation to me, but the officer forbade her to do so. Then Daryna, accompanied by the soldier, went to her room and came back a short time later with her passport. Now he wanted to see my passport. It was at the headquarters. He wanted to go there immediately.

Zarina stood trembling in front of her room in the Casa with her baby and Jinjin, her one and a half year old daughter. Apparently, the soldiers searched all the rooms. When she saw me, she gave an almost inhuman scream full of horror and fell backwards against the wall. Daryna first held the baby, then Zarina. I yelled at the officer if he didn’t have the honor to mess with teenies and scare them like that. Again I got a rifle butt off, but was able to hold on.

Mayari with her newly born twins was also just pushed into the hallway. I spat on the floor in front of the officer. “You bastards.”

The officer blocked the next blow with a rifle. He seemed to understand my anger. He walked down the corridor and looked into the rooms. The two young mothers were allowed to return to their rooms. Daryna led Zarina to her bed and placed the newborn Quan in the cot.

“Why weren’t you in the cellar?” I asked, frightened. Later I learnt that the soldiers had searched the basement and upstairs first and had ordered everyone out.

I remembered the way Mayari and Zarina had looked at me in fear; my sight was simply terrible. I asked the officer to let me clean up. He thought for a moment, had a soldier accompany me upstairs to the shower room, and I was able to clean up a bit. The two wounds on my head were bleeding again because of the water. I stuck cardboard from a cigarette box over my wounds. Alejandra brought me freshly washed underpants, jeans, and the shirt I had worn at the airport from the basement, as well as a beach towel.

After a few minutes, I was reasonably clean and a little calmer. I sat down on a stool and tried to collect my thoughts. We had to make the best possible impression on the military, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

Olivia called Sula to come and pick us up with a pram. Eventually, she and Lenya arrived in a golf car. Lenya was clearly in her sixth month of pregnancy. When the officer noticed this, he must have made a stupid remark to the soldier, because he laughed outrageously. Meanwhile, three soldiers who had searched the guesthouse were standing outside the palazzo. I was really angry about the joke.

An order was translated to me. “Everyone will immediately line up in front of the house”.

I had to stop that. “Not with me, my friend. Leave the children alone!”

Olivia translated a little more calmly than I had, but the commander of the unit growled more orders.

A little more calmly I asked for understanding. “You know there is a woman in surgery. The others are terrified of the fighting. I used to know the Peruvians as good and humane people. We will not cooperate in this way. The doctor is staying in the house, as is her assistant. There are more than ten younger girls and many small children in the basement. Do you want to frighten them even more? Most of them will be crying because of the shooting.”

Like two stags in heat we looked at each other again. A soldier was loading his rifle while I stood like a barrier in front of the stairs. The officer put the gun down. “Are there really no men or weapons here?”

“No men.”

“So, weapons?”

“Yes. The house was guarded and protected by four pregnant women.”

I immediately regretted having said that. He shook his head. “What is this, a whorehouse or a children’s village?” Olivia translated.

I was upset, but omitted a nasty answer. I instructed. “Sula, please bring the new girls to us. Luisa and Cara, go to the kitchen. The others will stay in the basement with the toddlers. Lenya, you will help your mother translate.”

The younger girls came upstairs very carefully. They paused anxiously in the anteroom. Sula formed the chain of gymnastics she had practised with the children during sports and led the girls outside. The military seemed visibly shocked.

“These children were treated like cattle by some Peruvians. When we found them, they were nearly dead. Now you can shoot them if you want to.” I shouted, also with a little feigned anger. What else could happen to me?

“They’re all twelve years old, but they look like nine or ten.” I pointed at Theres. “She only weighed twenty kilos when we found her. She would normally weigh forty kilos.”

Olivia told me that the officer didn’t understand any of this. He wanted an explanation of what was going on. “We should go into the house.” I proposed.

He nodded. I led him into the hall, but I wanted to see my loved ones now, so I went into the kitchen first. Luisa and Cara looked at us anxiously, they were preparing dinner. They were happy to accept my brief caresses. Next I carefully opened the room with the intensive care bed. Our doctor was in surgery, Esther was helping. Ramona gave me a thumb up. The intervention had obviously gone well.

As I was about to go into my office with the guests, we heard loud crying coming from the basement. It wasn’t just the little ones crying, the older ones were hysterical too. Priya had fallen over and was lying on a blanket on the floor. I rushed to her. She was in her last month. Damn it, what else had to happen? She was as white as a sheet, but she tried to smile. I kissed her forehead and stroked her cheek. When I put my hand on her belly, the little one kicked like crazy.

The officer suddenly stood next to me and said something nice. Then he and Olivia went into the two cabinets where the babies were with Isabella, Kira, Fahsai, and Ananda. I hurried to the part of the basement, where the chocolate and sweets were kept, the soldier trailing behind me. He stood in astonishment in front of the still well-stocked shelves while I took the last of the non-alcoholic sweets and the finest Swiss chocolate. I brought them to the children.

The officer was sitting on a construction worker’s chair and was playing with Martin, Ramona’s son. Martin called out: “Daddy!” and wanted to come to me. Tupac Umachik, Luisa’s son, and Attila, Esther’s son, also suddenly called out for their dad and stretched out their arms to me. The officer looked at me in disbelief.

The chocolate calmed everyone down in the basement. I led the officer into my office. He was amazed at the exquisite furnishings. When I wanted to start explaining, he called his adjutants, who were supposed to record everything with a camera.

Still a little uncertain, I began: “My name is Michael Berthier. I am 44 years old.” While Olivia translated, I took out my passport. “Here in this valley, one of the richest men in the world had a place built for him to hide because he had committed several serious crimes. I was the civil engineer responsible for the water and electricity supply. He also registered all the land with the authorities in my name. He wanted to kill me, just as he had killed the foreman and the architect.” I gave the officer their passports.

“Three years ago, on the 1st of August, thirteen little girls arrived here by bus from Ashmanton. They were going to be sex toys for the super-rich man, but they were also going to be mothers of children who would later be used as ‘spare parts’ for him.

I put down the thirteen passports, but he waved me away.