The Return of the Knight Templar

THE ATTACK Reinaldo was almost hit by the first shots. He had awakened around half an hour earlier and, after breakfast, was busy choosing a spot, near the river bank, for celebrating mass. The problems with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began when a few groups of guerrillas crossed the border with Brazil fleeing from attacks by the Colombian regular army. Since then, the Brazilian government had ordered its army to move toward the probable border-crossing points. The group of FARC guerrillas had attacked at 7:00 a.m., rapidly crossing the creek at a shallow point. The surprise was not complete only because of the warning received from the two sentinels who were guarding that point on the bank of the creek. The attackers opened fire with their AK-47 rifles in an intense barrage. There were around twenty men who took part in the attack, notwithstanding the Brazilians´ numerical superiority, with thirty-two soldiers. The sentinels were killed by the first bursts fired by the guerrillas´ Russian-made arms, but not before they could fire their FAL rifles and wound three attackers, who were lying, moaning, on the far bank of the creek. At the same moment, the other members of the Brazilian platoon, who were having breakfast in the clearing near the river, improvised as a provisional campsite, grabbed their guns, which they kept until then at arms length, and sought protected positions to face the attackers. The shouting was intense on both side. Reinaldo, a Brazilian Army Chaplain with the rank of Captain, was preparing the small altar on the folding table, well behind the place occupied by the dead sentinels. The first bullets hit his suitcase containing the religious trappings to be utilized in the mass. Instinctively, he threw himself on the ground, saving his life by a fraction of a second. The heat was suffocating at that point of the Amazon jungle so close to the equator. He was perspiring abundantly. A sergeant and a soldier came running and remained at his side, all of them being protected by some cases of provisions. “Father, keep down and don´t raise your head”, the sergeant shouted to the Chaplain. In the intense firefight, attackers and defenders looked alike in the small clearing, making for a tremendous confusion. The bursts fired by the handheld weapons made a thundering noise. At the next moment, on looking around, Reinaldo witnessed a terrible scene: the sergeant´s head had exploded in a cloud of blood and the soldier had been hit in the chest by various shots. The two men´s blood bathed his uniform, turning it dark red. Without thinking about what he was doing, through pure instinct, he grabbed the rifle which had fallen from the sergeant´s hands and, with a strange calmness, he began to take aim and, with incredible precision, to mow down the attackers who were moving through the campsite. His shots hit their mark and brought down five Colombians. The Chaplain´s intervention neutralized the impetus of the attack. Some guerrillas were able to flee, going back across the river. Alves, the First Lieutenant who was the platoon commander, was wounded, shot in the chest, and a sergeant was in command of the small group that had escaped unhurt from the attack. While a medic tried to help the wounded, Reinaldo began to administer the last rites to those who were breathing their last breaths. His thoughts barely allowed him to concentrate on the prayers. How could he have dared to take up a weapon and shoot his fellow men? How had he been capable of committing a deadly sin, taking the life of those whom he should love, going against all the laws of God and the Church? It would have been a thousand times better if it were he who was stretched out there, dead, fulfilling the holy duty which he had assumed on accepting the priesthood.