The Battle

This work narrates, in the form of a story, the moments of fear and danger in the highlands of Peru when Sendero Luminoso was beginning to bleed the country dry. The book opens as follows: "Near Putaccasa they made a stop on the road for an unexpected opportunity. With the precise sound of metal sliding through the calibrated barrel of another metal — the ominous cla-clack — the first bullet moved from the magazine to the chamber. Ordoñez put the rifle butt to his shoulder, aligned the crosshairs of the sight with the target, slid his index finger inside the trigger guard, and, holding his breath, pressed it gently against the trigger. In the distance, sunning themselves under the midday Andean light, the partridges and vizcachas never suspected that the optics were converting distance into lethal intimacy. The bullet from the HK91 left only the bodies of the animals. The telescopic sight gave distance and precision, and of the heads very little remained. None of the placid hunting vignettes, but rather torn flesh, bodies twisted by the motionless hurricane that snatched away the simple souls of feathers and fleece. Nor was there anything metaphysical about the hunters, who only imagined the delight of pot or pan that awaited them."