Family Matters - Chapter 6
Family Matters by Nina Lavoie
Intermediate Level English. All in the present for transposition exercises.
China has secrets. That much is obvious. When she travels to Paraguay to visit her family, she wants to hear the whole story about Wenasclao and finding the Simon Bertoni treasure. Everyone is happy to see China. But something is amiss.
When goons dressed up as the secret police come storming into the house to arrest her, even the Bertoni family is surprised that she has vanished. Then Johnny, a new teacher from school, finds listening devices in the house. Things are starting to get out of hand.
Apparently some people think that China killed General Stroessner twenty years ago and may still know where he buried the Stroessner fortune. Whoever controls that fortune, controls the future of Paraguay. Serious stuff, indeed.
Family Matters is the second in a series of three books (Family Secrets, Family Matters and Family Ties) about the Bertoni Family and their adventures in Paraguay.
CHAPTER SIX
“Watch your step,” Jeremy says. “We’re almost there.”
Johnny holds his candle high to try and see what he is walking on. “Do you hear the sound of running water?” he asks.
“I’ve never been able to find out what that was,” Jeremy says. “But yeah. It’s like an underground stream or something.”
“Or sewers.”
Jeremy looks at him. “Do you think that’s how China got out?”
“Could be.”
They start walking uphill again as they approach the cold storage shed.
“They probably built this on the original site during the Colonial era when there was danger of attacks from the Carian Indians,” Johnny says.
“Yes, China told us stories about the Carians.”
“Why do you call her China, instead of grandma or something,” Johnny asks.
“I dunno. Just always did. She wanted us to.”
They finally come up to the rock wall and Jeremy shows him the gap in the overlapping rocks that they can squeeze through. In a moment they are in the cold storage shed.
“You would never know that gap was there if you didn’t know beforehand,” Johnny says. “But where is the key to unlock the door?”
“Right here.”
Jeremy moves a rock aside near the door to reveal the key. “I could get into trouble showing you the tunnel.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“I do. Not sure about the others.”
“Why do you trust me, Jeremy? It's taking a big risk, isn’t it?”
“I dunno. We need help, that’s all. Otherwise, we’re in really deep trouble.” Jeremy looks at him intensely in the candlelight.
“I’ll do my best.”
“It’s about the money,” Juan Carlos says.
“What money?” Miguel asks.
“The Stroessner Fortune,” Jane answers. “Johnny…. Mr. Martinez was telling us about it in our history class the other day. Sounded a bit like a conspiracy theory.”
“No conspiracy theory,” says Juan Carlos, “at least not in the sense that it isn’t true. But there does seem to be a conspiracy, or at least there used to be.”
“Dad, you aren’t making any sense.”
“Let me start from the beginning, “Juan Carlos says. “Yes, the Stroessner family had a fortune that he had amassed over 35 years of being the president of Paraguay. General Stroessner had no heirs, so the fortune would go to his brother.” Juan Carlos looks at Miguel Angel intently.
“You mean my grandfather?”
“Yes, your mother’s father was Miguel Stroessner and was the right hand of the President for many years. It’s easy to forget that you are a Stroessner too.”
“No, I’m not.”
Jane can see him react to that like it is a curse. Maybe it was.
“But my grandparents were killed during the revolution in 1989. Didn’t the government just keep the Stroessner Fortune for themselves?” Miguel Angel asks.
“Apparently, they couldn’t find it.”
“From what Mr. Martinez told us, the Stroessner Fortune was stolen from the Paraguayan people,” Jane says, “and even the gold reserves were taken out of the country.”
“That’s the story,” Juan Carlos says. “Near the end, General Stroessner could see the writing on the wall, and he took precautions to protect the money in offshore accounts and third-party transactions with access codes and cryptography.”
Juan Carlos gets up from his desk to face the window. “People were scared that the revolutionaries would kill off the twelve families and simply appropriate their wealth in the name of the revolution.”
“So, they put all their money into the Stroessner Fortune and let him hide it for them,” Jane suggests.
“Probably not all of their wealth but enough to start a counter-revolution and take back the country as quickly as possible. At least that’s what people high up in the opposition government thought.”
“But they probably had money outside of the country anyways,” Miguel Angel says. “These families have wealth everywhere, don’t they?”
“Yes, probably,” Juan Carlos says.
“But there was still a lot of money in Paraguay and the revolution took them a bit by surprise. They didn’t want the opposition to get their hands on it. At first they thought it would blow over but it swelled into a major conflict. Only General Stroessner, and your grandfather, Miguel, had planned for that possibility.”
“So, they pooled their money and stashed it away somewhere,” Miguel Angel says. “What does that have to do with me?”
“You are the heir to the Stroessner Fortune. You will turn 19 and come of age in four months and, if you have the proper codes, you can gain access to all that money.” Juan Carlos smiles.
“But I don’t have any codes,” Miguel Angel says.
“Yes, I know.” Juan Carlos says seriously. “But they don’t know that.”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
The man behind the desk glares at him.
“I didn’t ask you if you understood,” he says evenly. “I asked if you would take care of it.”
“Why me, sir?” Moises asks carefully.
“You were married to her for ten years, for Pete’s sake.” His boss explodes from his chair and strides around the desk to confront him. “If you can’t find her, nobody can.” He leans closer to make his point clear. “If we don’t find her, and soon, all of our heads will roll.”
“I’m retired,” Moises says. “They can’t touch me.”
“I’m not talking about getting fired.” His boss jabs his finger in his direction. “We brought you out of retirement to deal with this situation, now deal with it.” He turns his back on Moises and went back to his chair.
“Are you still here?” he demands. Moises stands up and pushes through the door into the hallway of the secret service. He knows this man is just a functionary but it is important to find out how much they know, or thought they knew.
Apparently, they still haven’t found China.
Good. The idea is to keep it that way. For now.
Copyright © 2019-2025 by Bert A. Amsing and vanKregten Publishers. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from Bert A. Amsing and/or vanKregten Publishers.
Stay in Touch. Get our Newsletter.
Copyright 2019 - 2024 by Bert A. Amsing and van Kregten Publishing. All Rights Reserved.