Chapter Two Thousand Forty-Two
8th February 1971
Tempelhof, Berlin
Kiki had just sort of assumed that she would just get sent back to Rio Gallegos where she would resume her old life. As annoying and hectic as that might seem. Things hadn’t worked out that way though. When she reached La Paz, she had taken on step into the German Embassy there just to try and find out what was going on and found herself being taken into custody by the Military Personnel on site. Because she had been reported missing in action, she needed to be debriefed before any thought could be made towards allowing her back into the field. That had resulted in her being put on the first plane home. The last time she had seen Che had been just after she had stepped up to the Embassy doors. He had been standing next to the car with an apologetic look on his face and Kiki figured that the louse had probably had a fairly good idea of what was going to happen. Not that Kiki could complain too much, he had his own Government to contend with when he got back to Argentina. Kiki had also learned that Ben was in Argentina with the Squadron from his Air Wing that been deployed to Córdoba. It was something that she was extremely displeased over, yet she also understood that it was entirely her fault. If she hadn’t gone missing, then he probably wouldn’t have volunteered to go.
Once she had landed in Berlin, Kiki had been whisked off to a house somewhere in the suburbs on a street she didn’t recognize. She figured that if she left it wouldn’t take too long to find an S-Bahn station that would take her to the center of the city and from there, home, in short order. Escaping though, that was something that she had had quite enough of lately. It was in that house where she had been grilled by men and women who were of the type normally associated with the BND, grey functionaries. There was also considerable interest in her case by the First Foot Guard. What had happened with her security detail? Where had she first gone into hiding? What had happened with the Chilean Army that had convinced her to move on from there? Why had she gone into Chile? And dozens more like that. Frequently, they had doubled back on certain aspects of her story, trying to trip her up, to see if she were lying. There were also questions about her traveling with Doctor Ernesto Guevara, who had quite a reputation as a womanizer. Kiki had told the truth, with survival consuming all her energy and the thought that around every corner might be a contingent of the Chilean Army, the two of them had far greater concerns. So, Ernesto was a friend who she had gotten out of a difficult situation with and that was that.
There were finally the medical tests that would put the rumors about her health to rest. The previous Friday she had endured a battery of comprehensive tests, to rule out or confirm anything and everything. It was all entirely to her annoyance that it had even been deemed necessary. She had received a call from the hospital saying that there was one last thing that they wanted to do before they went over the results with her.
Arriving at the University Hospital, she saw that Nora Berg had come out to greet her.
“The Prodigal Daughter has returned home I see” Berg said with a slight smile.
“Is there even such a thing?” Kiki asked as she walked through the doors. “And wouldn’t that imply that I am lazy and wasteful?”
“I don’t think you are wasteful” Berg replied as they walked towards the elevators, “You just have everyone who loves you pulling their hair out in frustration and you can be lazy at times.”
Getting off on the fifth floor, Kiki entered the Imaging and Radiology Department with Berg.
“They just want to see what is going on inside of you first” Berg said, “To clear up a few things.”
“There is nothing out of the ordinary to see” Kiki said, “The rumor is that I am pregnant, and I haven’t been with anyone like that since Ben last year. Right before the whole IUD thing. Since then, I walked halfway across South America and drove for much of the rest.”
Kiki almost asked Berg if she looked like she was eight-months pregnant. Then she remembered what had happened the last time she had asked that question.
“When you were with Ben, that would have been what, late July?” Berg asked, “If I recall correctly.”
“Yes” Kiki replied as they entered the exam room.
“I know you’ve done this before” Berg said, “It will just be me, Doctor Stein, and the Technician in here today.”
The Technician was a woman Kiki’s age wearing the pastel surgical scrubs that identified her as the equivalent to a Nurse. It was something that revealed just how important this Department had become over the course of the last decade. The presence of Doctor Stein was a surprise though. He was the head of Radiology in this Hospital. Kiki would have thought that he was far too senior to take an interest in her case.
Minutes later, Kiki found herself staring at the ceiling as the cold probe was being run across her belly. The gel they used to facilitate the process did nothing to help it feel any less intrusive. It brought to mind the first time Kiki had done this when she had been fifteen with her mother thinking that it was the greatest thing ever. Much to Kiki’s profound embarrassment.
“This is extraordinary” Kiki heard Stein say softly, “You can hardly tell.”
“That is enough of that” Berg told him, “You saw what you wanted, now you can go. Kristina is not to be gawked at. This is rare but it does happen, especially with women in stressful jobs.”
