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#helmut marco
fernandoalonzoo · 1 year
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We go live to Alpine head strategist, Panini Oscari, the genius behind today’s race:
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lorarri · 6 months
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꒰꒰ ‧₊˚𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐍𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐄 ─ 𝐓𝐖𝟎𝟎 ˚₊· ꒱꒱
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─ summary . . . ❨ a life long friendship spoils into feeling on regret harted and rensentment but years late they meet again can these issues be resolved? ❩  ─ pairing . . . ❨ toto wolff x fem! redbull! engineer! strategist! reader ❩  ─ genre . . . ❨ oneshot ❩  ─ word count . . . ❨ 2.3k ❩  ─ warnings . . . ❨ mention of abandonment, friends falling out, resentment, pregnancy, children, nice christian horner and helmut marco, not proof read, may be some mistakes ❩  ─ author note . . . ❨ so I have had this idea for what feels like forever and I'm so exited to finally share it with you guys so this is gonna be divided into 2-3 part so enjoy! ❩
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❨ taglist | masterlist | next ❩
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Everything leads back to him. No matter how far you ran, the oceans and distances you put between the two of you. No matter what turn in the road you took, no matter how high the barrier was between you two, the wall you forged that was meant to keep you two divided. It always seems to do the opposite - taking you right back to where you started. Him. As if the hands of fate were playing a cruel, never-ending joke on you. As if they enjoyed watching the invisible dagger twist further into your already wounded heart. As if being haunted by him wasn't enough.
Though It wasn't his physical form that plagued you, since you were smart enough to avoid him whenever he was in Vienna. You blocked him on everything and cut off mutual friends who were feeding him information about you and what was going on in your life. You became a stranger to him, and yet it was the familiar memories that you shared that haunted you the most. Every laugh and tear ricochets everywhere you look, as if your heart is trying to find an excuse to think of him.
It didn't help that your family loved him. I mean, how couldn't they? He was smart, kind, funny, and not to mention filthy rich. Perfect. Unlike you, with so many flaws, you had a tough time listing all of them. At every reunion, without fail, they talked about him, how he was doing, how well he was doing for himself, practically begging you to reach out. But you couldn't, not when your pride rang so much louder than the sound of your heart breaking whenever someone mentioned his name. Ah, his name, which once rang so sweet, now tasted bitter on your lips. Torger Christian "Toto" Wolff. A name that you could never forget, no matter how hard you tried.
Every fond memory was intertwined with him, tainted. As if he wanted to ruin every ounce of fondness, you once held for your childhood before he ran off and left you. 18 years of friendship. Gone. No calls, no texts, and the last time the two of you talked, it was anything but pleasant. The words of that night still haunt you, though if anyone ever asks you, you would say that you ended on good terms for the sake of them not asking any questions. A necessary lie that was complete bullshit - and yet they believe it chalking it down to 'falling out of touch'. If only they knew.
Frankly, over time, the sadness you felt from that day turned into resentment. Using that unbridled rage to justify your choices. The first was going to Harvard to study mechanical engineering, knowing that it was Toto's dream school. A place that he knew he would never be able to get into. But you did, and the sick sense of satisfaction was like no other. But that wasn't enough, just getting in. So you graduated top of your class just to prove a point. You weren't sure what it was, but all you knew was you had to prove it. So you took it a step further, you joined the sworn enemies of Mercedes. Oracle Red Bull Racing.
Part of you should have felt guilty. In fact, you did. But those thoughts were quickly overruled by your drive to help your new team succeed - and the hope of watching Mercedes and Toto fail. So you started as an engineer, as the apprentice of Adrian Newey, who was eager to teach such a promising protege so he could retire from the team, leaving you as the successor to his position. Before departing, Newey made sure that Christian and Helmet would leave that job for you. Which didn't take much since they saw potential in you - The whole team did. Their faith in you was unshakable, and they encouraged and supported you through everything and in every way, especially since you were a single mother of 5 year old twins.
Lucian and Aurora. They were the best thing that ever happened to you, even if they resulted from a one-night stand during your Harvard days. They motivated you to study harder to focus on creating a better future for yourself and them. Since the birth father wanted nothing to do with them. Sure, he paid the child support, but he didn't see them as his children, more a nuisance that he paid to keep away. He didn't even name them, Well, technically, you didn't either.
Toto did. You still remember all of those years ago when you asked him if he ever had children what he would name them, and the moment you held your beautiful boy and girl in your arms, you knew right then that there were no other options. Sure, you tried to give them other names, unwilling to allow him to taint another part of your life with his likeness. But they didn't feel right, like a jigsaw piece that didn't fit the puzzle. In the end, you caved. Though till this day you would never admit that he was the reason behind your children's names, you knew that it was a secret you would take to the grave.
With that all taken into consideration, your bosses were very understanding, allowing you to work from Milton Keynes as the chief technical officer of the team. Allowing you to stay close to home and look after your kids. Though you were sad you couldn't travel with the team, you were glad you could spend more time with your children and avoid a certain somebody. But that was all about to change.
"A promotion?" you asked, dumbfounded as you sat, mouth slightly agape, looking at Christians and Helmut's faces, trying to see if this was a joke. "Yes, we want you to become head strategist effective immediately," Helmut said, dead serious, not an ounce of amusement on his face. "I know this is all very sudden, But Randy quit and has joined Mercedes, didn't give notice, and we have no one else to fill the position. Please, Y/N, you are the only option," Christian pleads to his friend.
The desperation and stress were evident on his face; it was clear that this was not something he wanted to deal with now of all time, with pre-season testing lurking just around the corner. And the fact that the former head of strategies joined their arch-rivals was even more of a slap to the face. So, you could understand their frustration. And before you could dare mention the amount of pay this new role would add to your already astronomically high salary, Helmut handed you a document.
"So this is my salary with the additional, is it?" you ask, looking up at Helmut, who smiles, "No, this will be added on top of your already existing pay." Silence. That's a lot of money, and a very tempting offer. "But if you take this position, it means you would have to travel with the team. Everywhere." There's the catch.
"As honoured as I am that you would consider me for this role and as tempting as that bonus looks on top. You know I can't just leave my kids at home while I travel with the team - there would be no one to look after them," You explained, as the idea of your kids being thousands of miles away from you made your heart twist in your chest with the worry of not being there for them. "Why not bring them with you?" Christian proposed.
"They are old enough to travel, and they are already home-schooled, so a change of learning setting wouldn't be much of an issue. We can hire a teacher for the kids and anything else they may need. No expense spared. And I'm sure they would love to sightsee and travel, especially with you." Weighing up your options, you stare at the document in your hands blankly, sure. The issue of the kids had been sorted, as Christian did make some good points, but on the other hand, there was another issue money couldn't remedy or make disappear even if you tried. Toto.
You would have to see him again. All the time. In your place of work constantly, and you were unsure if you could deal with it. Seeing him and all the memories that come attached. But did you really want to reject the deal of a lifetime because of him? Was a bit of blissfully ignorant distance really worth giving up the opportunity to show your children the world? No - it wasn't. "Where do I sign?" He wasn't worth it.
With that, Christian and Helmut's faces lit up with a smile as they handed you the contract, and you signed on the dotted line. Shaking hands with Helmut and giving Christian a brief hug, "What changed your mind?" Horner asked curiously as to what swayed you into saying yes. "The idea of watching Mercedes lose to us live is priceless," you laughed as the three of you continued to talk. Creating a plan of action for what is to come. Beacuse lord know you need one.
The paddock was already packed. As the sun shone down on Bahrain. A blur of different team-coloured shirts all rushing around with their noses dug into their work, all of them being far too busy to pay attention to who or what they were occasionally running into. For them, it was like any other first day of another Formula One season, but to Y/N, this was the start of the rest of her life.
But before you could admire your surroundings anymore, your trance of awe was broken by something else Christian said. As you stood sheltered from the blistering heat in the Redbull garage, you couldn't help but wonder how your kids were. You hadn't seen them for a few hours, and the last you heard from others, after you helped them settle down they started playing with Max and Checo. Which you greatly appreciated as you knew your kids got bored easily.
As you stood analysing the newest set of data that was displayed in front of you. Until you felt a familiar pair of hands covered your eyes, blocking your line of sight. "Max, cut that out" You laughed as the pair of hands hovered for a few more seconds before being lifted. "Could you at least pretend to be surprised? There is no fun if you know all the time" The Dutch huffed jokingly as he leaned against the desk you were stood by.
"How are the kids? They aren't too much of a bother, are they? I can't thank you enough for looking after them for these past couple of hours with Checo. I owe you two lunch." As you continued to thank Max profusely, you failed to notice the confusion on his face, "Y/N, I haven't seen the kids since 12pm. They told me they were coming to see you" What? You looked at Max with wide eyes before looking at the clock it was now 1pm, shit.
Meanwhile, two garages over two uninvited guests had let themselves in. See, the twins really were going to go see their mother, but they couldn't help but get distracted when they saw a flash mob of people in black uniforms passing them. Which piqued their interest, to say the least. So against their better judgement, they decided to follow them.
Which is how they ended up in the Mercedes garage admiring their car. Due to their mother's career, they had seen all creative and cool car designs. And this one was no different: sleek, black and intimidating. The two naive 5-year-olds immediately thought it had been designed by their mother. I mean, who else could you have made something so awesome? As they stood marvelling at car number 44, they failed to acknowledge the figure that loomed over them.
"Bono, I'm gonna have to call you back," Lewis said as he hung up the phone and looked at the scene before him. Who's kids were these? and how the hell did they get here? "Hi there," The Mercedes driver said cautiously to not spook the two kids as he crouched down to their level. "What are you guys doing here?" the Brit asked as the two children looked at each other as if they had been caught red-handed doing something they weren't supposed to. Which was quite adorable.
As the young girl stayed quiet and scooted closer to her brother, clearly nervous, the younger boy quickly came up with an excuse: "We thought the car looked cool," again made Lewis chuckle. "What are your names?" he asked. "I'm Lucian. This is my twin sister Aurora"
"So I take it you two are Red Bull fans?" Lewis asked, looking at the caps they were wearing, one being a number 1 and the other a number 11 cap. "Yeah, Mommy says it's the best team in the world!" Aurora finally spoke up, her eyes lighting with passion for the team. Bingo. So they were here with their mother. Now he just needs to figure out how to get these two back to her. Lewis then asked, "Does your Mommy know that you are here?"
Silence. The twins look at each other, and it's clear to the Mercedes driver that their mother did not know they were there. "Can you find your way back to her?" Silence once again. With the quiet dragging on for a few more seconds, it was clear that the twins were becoming increasingly panicked as they, in fact, did not remember which way they came.
"Why don't you guys come with me to my friends, and maybe they can help get you back to your mom?" Lewis said to the scared children, who now looked at him with hope in their eyes. At this point, Lewis was stumped with ideas. So maybe Toto could help.
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chussyracing · 15 days
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what is happening in the world of motorsports?
send all of hatred toward Red Bull because apparently they suspended the woman who dared to speak up against innapropriate behaviour from the side of her boss (there were rumours that Horner would leave the team by Australia because of boycotts coming from the US market which they wanna focus on, but it was denied a few hours after by Red Bull spokesman, worth noting that Emely de Heus running Red Bull livery in F1 Academy has Ford logos on the car which seems to be a nod towards proceeding with their deal for 2026, then also rumours of Max leaving for Mercedes, Horner contradicting by saying that no individual is bigger than the whole team etc.)
Fred Vasseur and his full wallet are still hungry for more for their all star team and they are now apparently looking into getting engineers from Red Bull (among the names most mentioned online are: head of aero Enrico Balbo, the legend himself Adrian Newey, David Morgan, Ben Waterhouse or Alessandro Germani)
what he already achieved is get Jerome d'Ambrossio who was preparing to take over the team principal duties in Mercedes when Toto Wolff's contract expires, Jerome will join Ferrari and be linked to FDA which should allow Jock Clear to focus more on F1
Red Bull Racing have a planned upgrade for Imola that is meant to be the reworked no-pod concept Mercedes tried out at the start of current regulations and Ferrari will react with their own big upgrade package featuring new floor, bodywork and sidepod scales (McLaren also teased upgrades for their car around this time in the season)
there are so many silly season rumours including Kimi Antonelli to Mercedes (Toto and Kimi were on track for a team who Marco Antonelli drives for in Imola), Fernando Alonso to Mercedes (Toto had another coffee date with his manager Flavio Briatore), Carlos Sainz to Red Bull Racing (his father met up with some Red Bull figures in the paddock), Carlos Sainz to Mercedes (again they visited their facilities and Corriere dello Sport claims that they started the negotiations for a 2025 seat), Ollie Bearman to Haas (he was already linked to the seat and according to our comms it was one of the worst kept secrets he had that seat reserved before the start of the season already, but after his amazing debut in Jeddah, he may have gotten the attention of some other - better - teams as well), Max Verstappen to Mercedes (Marko Helmut has been running his mouth to media - name ORL - about how he may be suspended for leaking internal information and Max followed by with saying he is linked to Marko so basically if he goes, he will follow him + Toto and Lewis spoke about how anyone would love to have him) and Guenther Steiner told Sky that Toto Wolff should consider Nico Hulkenberg for the Mercedes seat......
drivers have been shown the new track in Saudi - Qiddiya - that could appear in the calendar from 2027 by Alex Wurz himself (who co-designed it with Tilke) and they posted about it one after another as an ad for the gp (so there is no way you could have avoided it)
Mercedes may have more problems in the near future because their track data doesn't corelate well with sim data, so neither the engineers nor the drivers are sure how to evolve the package they have on their hands (they were 2nd slowest in high speeds after Alpine according to data) meaning that it is probably not a problem of their setup but rather the whole design
Felipe Massa sued FIA, F1 management and also Bernie Ecclestone over 2008 crashgate which cost him the title, he is asking for around 80 mil for the Singapore race not being nullified like it should (and Bernie because he said last year that he and Moss knew about the breach at the time but decided not to act on it in fear of it damaging F1 as a brand)
Jody Schecker is auctioning off some of his cars if you have a few millions to spare
we don't have an official update on Carlos, but according to Fred Vasseur he could even be ready to jump in the car by Australia (the decision will be made in accordance to the doctors and to how Carlos himself feels soon, probably next week)
Alessandro Bruni explained that Sauber is working on a fix for their pit stop issue, so it wouldn't repeat in the future
Alan Permane from RB team wants to talk to the FIA about Kevin Magnussen's unsportman like behaviour (mate he got 20s of penalties i think they are were aware he didn't race by the rules)
Ollie Bearman sat behind the wheel of Ferrari again as he tested F1-75 in Fiorano today
after the head of Bahrain mentioned they would want the gp on Saturday to be a permanent thing, the head of Saudi Arabian gp is now considering the same thing
Jack Doohan will participate in a special event during Australian GP to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his father's 1st Motorcycling World Championship win (Mick will also driver MotoGP Honda, so they will share a track)
after Otmar Szafnauer was fired from Alpine, he appeared at a Honda event and has also been linked to Andretti
lil summary of Jeddah 2024:
after the brake issues Charles experienced in Bahrain, the team started to investigate it, because they didn't experience this before and Jock Clear said they didn't get to the bottom of it yet with Brembo (the braking system manufacturer)
the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain is apparently considering the sale of its share in McLaren
Andretti showed off their new HQ whoch features a hint towards F1 journey so it seems like they will try again to get into the sport
in F1, FP2 session was delayed for a drain cover in pit lane which had to be re-screwed to stay safe
Carlos felt sick all weekend and it was because of appenditic, he had to get his appendix taken out and Ollie Bearman from FDA jumped in his seat for the weekend - after already scoring a pole for the feature race in F2 (the rules prevent him to start in both, so he chose to take the chance in f1 and lose a chance to score points from the sprint and feature race in f2)
Lando jump started the gp but didn't get a penalty (because he stopped and didn't gain anything from it and was still inside the starting box, so the sensor for jump starting the race didn't qualify it as such)
Checo Perez scored his 8th penalty point in Jeddah (after he left the pit box while the red light was still on and was therefor unsafely released in front of Fernando) and is near a possible race ban if he gets to 12 before some of them expire
F1 Academy championship started and Doriane Pin absolutely dominated (she got double pole and double victory - although she got demoted to p9 after the second win for taking checkered flag twice) and not even this was a smooth ride, because they had to take two formation laps in the first race after the race control had a problem with the starting lights
fun facts and fan's point of view:
Ollie is the first driver in history to be on the grid with a driver - Fernando Alonso - who scored a championship when he was born
also important note i see nobody else speaking about, Ollie mentioned a point that is contradicting what Logan has been saying, which is that feeder series - namely F2 - prepares drivers well for stepping up into F1
Ollie also mentioned that before the race, he got a message from Seb as a good luck and it made him happy, because it's a driver he admires a lot
fun fact about Ollie's 2024 season so far: he has more points in F1 than he has in F2 currently
oh and since Lewis was there first to congratulate Ollie, he has been helping him out of the car after the demanding gp
Charles got himself a new Ferrari (and yes i thought it is his Pista because he got a similar customisation for this one)
Alex posted a photodump where he photoshopped Yuki (you need to see it)
Australian gp will have The Pride Hub ready for fans (in partnership with Racing Pride)
there was this long essay written on F1 and the way the rich world works called "Behind F1's velvet curtain" and the piece from Kate Wagner was taken down without a word although the writer was commisioned to write it and it looks like the highest figures and structures were included in the decision to take it down due to criticism of the sport (or more like the world of it)
Nico Rosberg made a new ad where he sings karaoke (he is never escaping the Britney allegations)
last note: Ollie has gotten so much support from other drivers and fans, it's beautiful to see (also his father David Bearman has been an absolute icon in the Ferrari garage the whole two days)
Charles met with an Italian singer Ultimo and signed his T-shirt
Oscar showed off his new helmet for his home gp and it's very pretty!!
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f0point5 · 19 days
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German reporters try not to interview Helmut Marco every single time challenge #impossible
And we are thankful. Because helmut gives the best sound bites
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nekoannie-chan · 11 months
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Week 18 Reblog Masterlist
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Welcome to Week 18 2023 or Week 174, as always, fics would be listed in the order I read them.
I hope you enjoy it!
«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»
♥ You can check my reading guidelines here.
♥ You can check my masterlist here.
♥ You can check my main reblog masterlist 2023 here.
♥ You can check my April reblog masterlist 2023 here.
♥ You can check my May reblog masterlist 2023 here.
«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»
𝙺𝚎𝚢𝚜: 💛 ᵒʳᶤᵍᶤᶰᵃˡ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ
💜 ʰᵒʳʳᵒʳ
🖤 ᵈᵃʳᵏ
❤️ ˢᵐᵘᵗ
💚 ᶠˡᵘᶠᶠ
💙 ᵃᶰᵍˢᵗ
🧡 ᶜᵒᵐᵉᵈʸ
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This is the list of the fics I read and recommend in Week 18 2023:
 Caraphrenialia (Helmut Zemo X Reader) by @caplanbuckybarnes💙
My saviour chapter 47: Red! (Brock Rumlow X Reader) by @talia-rumlow 💚💙❤️🖤
The spark within part XVII (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @beccaanne814💚💙
His inheritance part XXV: Just breathe (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @jtargaryen18 🖤
Garden parties (John Proudstar & Marcos Díaz & Lorna Dane) by @echo-bleu💚
My saviour chapter 48: Do you have a child? (Brock Rumlow X Reader) by @talia-rumlow 💚💙❤️🖤
The spark within part XVIII (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @beccaanne814💚💙
His inheritance part XXVI: Duplicity (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @jtargaryen18 🖤
Memories (Clarice Fong X Reader) by @spooderham💚
Thrill of the kill part 1 (Dark!Bucky Barnes|Steve Rogers X Reader) by @alwayssunnyinedensgate 🖤
The spark within part XIX (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @beccaanne814💚💙
His inheritance part XXVII: Take care of business (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @jtargaryen18 🖤
The Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff X Reader) by @messedupfan 💚💙
Triad (Stucky X Reader) by @labella420❤️
A piece of cake (Stucky X Reader) by @sidepartskinnyjeans❤️
The spark within part XX (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @beccaanne814💚💙
The tide comes (and goes and goes) (Eddie & Buck) by @renecdote 💚
Wake me up & I’ll find you once more (Stucky) by @buckyismybicycle 💚💙
Some ancient call (Gargoyle!Steve X Mermaid!Reader) by @sinner-as-saint💚❤️
The spark within part XXI (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @beccaanne814💚💙
Snap decisions and nervous energy (Thunderblink) by @kirstensmee 💚
Effortless (Thunderblink) by @kindaresilent 💚
Fading part 1 (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @3mcwriting 💚💙
The spark within part XXII (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @beccaanne814​💚💙
Do I have something on my face? (Thunderblink) by @kindaresilient​ 💚
The great war (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @marvelcriminalhoe​💙
You are home (Eddie Díaz X Reader) by @newobsessionweekly​💙
The spark within part XXIII (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @beccaanne814​💚💙
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daughterofhecata · 3 months
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Reading List 2023
Ocean Vuong: Night Sky With Exit Wounds
Alena Mornštajnová: Hana
Wolfgang Benz: Theresienstadt. Ein Geschichte von Täuschung und Vernichtung.
Jáchym Topol: Die Teufelswerkstatt [org. title: Chladnou zemí]
Ocean Vuong: Time is a Mother
Richard Siken: Crush
Ben Nevis: Die Drei ??? Die Yacht des Verrats
Frank Wedekind: Frühlings Erwachen (reread)
James Ellroy: Die Schwarze Dahlie [org. title: The Black Dahlia]
André Marx: Die Drei ??? und der Puppenmacher
Evelyn Boyd: Rocky Beach Crimes #2. Mord unter Palmen.
Peter Hallama: Nationale Helden und jüdische Opfer. Tschechische Repräsentationen des Holocaust.
Brigitte Johanna Henkel-Waidhofer: Die Drei ??? Späte Rache
Kim Newman: Professor Moriarty. The Hound of the D‘Urbervilles. (reread)
Vera Schiff: The Theresienstadt Deception. The Concentration Camp the Nazis Created to Deceive the World.
Evelyn Boyd: Rocky Beach Crimes #2. Mord unter Palmen. (reread)
Josef Bor: Die verlassene Puppe [org. title: Opuštěná panenka]
Kari Erlhoff: Rocky Beach Crimes #1. Tödliche Törtchen.
Susanna Partsch: Wer klaute die Mona Lisa? Die berühmtesten Kunstdiebstähle der Welt.
Kathy Reichs: Virals #1. Tote können nicht mehr reden. [org. title: Virals] (reread)
Arthur Schnitzler: Reigen (reread)
Evelyn Boyd: Die Drei ??? Teuflisches Foul
Faye Kellerman: Der Zorn sei dein Ende [org. title: The Hunt]
J.D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye
Władysław Szlengel: Was ich den Toten las [org. title: Co czytałem umarłym]
Hanna Krall: Dem Herrgott Zuvorkommen [org. title: Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem]
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Dispossessed
Thomas Mann: Der Tod in Venedig
James Oswald: Natural Causes. An Inspector McLean Novel.
Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar (reread)
Christoph Dittert: Die Drei ??? Melodie der Rache
Maria Rolnikaitė: Mein Tagebuch [org. title: Ja dolžna rasskazat']
Mark Thompson: Leatherfolk. Radical Sex, People, Politics and Practice.
James Baldwin: Giovanni‘s Room
Christopher Tauber, Hanna Wenzel: Rocky Beach. Eine Interpretation.
Lorraine Vivian Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun
Jonathan Kellerman: Unnatural History. An Alex Delaware Novel.
Robert Arthur: Die Drei ??? und die Geisterinsel. [org. title: The Three Investigators in the Secret of Skeleton Island]
Evelyn Boyd: Rocky Beach Crimes #3. Eiskalter Rausch.
André Marx: Die Drei ??? Labyrinth der Götter
John Barth: Lost in the Funhouse
Langston Hughes: Selected Poems of Langston Hughes.
Claude McKay: Harlem Shadows. The Poems of Claude McKay.
Jonathan Kellerman: Exit. Ein Alex Delaware Roman. [org. title: Devil‘s Waltz. An Alex Delaware Novel.] (reread)
David Henry Hwang: M Butterfly
James Oswald: The Book of Souls. An Inspector McLean Novel.
Jonathan Kellerman: Time Bomb. An Alex Delaware Novel. (reread)
Manuela Günter: Überleben schreiben. Zur Autobiographik der Shoah.
Birgit Kröhle: Geschichte und Geschichten. Die literarische Verarbeitung von Auschwitz-Erlebnissen.
Alexander F. Spreng: Der Fluch (reread)
Sibylle Schmidt: Zeugenschaft. Ethische und politische Dimensionen.
Sibylle Schmidt: Ethik und Episteme der Zeugenschaft
Kari Erlhoff & Christoph Dittert: Die Drei ??? und die Salztote
Jeanette McCurdy: I‘m Glad My Mom Died
E.T.A. Hoffmann: Der Sandmann
Hendrik Buchna: Die Drei ??? Drehbuch der Täuschung
Michael Scott: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #2. The Magician. (reread)
Alain Locke: The New Negro
Mascha Kaléko: Großstadtliebe. Lyrische Stenogramme.
Marco Sonnleitner: Die Drei ??? Der Tag der Toten
Georg Heym: Gedichte [herausgegeben von Stephan Hermlin]
Rose Ausländer: Hinter allen Worten. Gedichte. [herausgegeben von Helmut Braun]
Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita
Paul Celan: Ausgewählte Gedichte. Zwei Reden. [herausgegeben von Günther Busch]
Rich Cohen: Lake Shore Drive [org. title: Lake Effect]
Jan T. Gross: Neighbors. The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland.
Kathy Reichs: Virals #2. Nur die Tote kennt die Wahrheit. [org. title: Seizure]
Jonathan Kellerman: Bones. An Alex Delaware Novel. (reread)
Akwaeke Emezi: You made a Fool of Death with your Beauty
Friedrich Schiller: Maria Stuart
Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho
Christian Handel: Die Hexenwald-Chroniken #2. Palast aus Gold und Tränen.
Maurice Leblanc: Arsène Lupin und der Schatz der Könige von Frankreich [org. title: L'Aiguille creuse]
E.T.A. Hoffmann: Nussknacker und Mausekönig
Marco Sonnleitner: Die Drei ??? Panik im Park
Ben Nevis: Die Drei ??? Tal des Schreckens
Michael Borlik: Ihr mich auch
Robert Arthur: Die Drei ??? und der grüne Geist [org. title: Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators in the Mystery of the Green Ghost]
Barbara Köhler: Niemands Frau. Gesänge.
Christoph Dittert: Die Drei ??? Hotel der Diebe
Cornelia Funke: Tintenwelt #4. Die Farbe der Rache.
DNF:
Thomas Ziebula: Paul Stainer #1. Der rote Judas.
Faye Kellerman: Mord im Garten Eden [org. title: The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights]
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jrgysusobjetos · 1 year
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JOCHEN RINDT.
Helmut Marco, también piloto F1 para BRM en la misma época, ganador en Le Mans y actual asesor de Red Bull, compañero de pupitre en la escuela decía de él que era muy salvaje y que se mofaban de él por su narizota achatada como de boxeador. Niki Lauda decía que podías correr con cualquier coche, pero en esos años para ganar había que conducir un Lotus, lo que no garantizaba seguir vivo. Eso es lo que consiguió Karl Jochen, un Lotus que le llevaría a ganar el Campeonato del Mundo de 1970 a tres carreras del final y sin que él pudiera saberlo, pues en los entrenamientos del GP de Italia, hizo recto a la entrada de la Parabólica dejando su vida allí. Antes en 1965 ya consiguió ganar las 24 Horas de Le Mans a bordo del Ferrari 250LM.
Acuarela  papel 300gr. A3.  jrG Motor
B-1082
2023
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niemernuet · 2 years
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I love this week's prompt from the off-season winter sports fandom challenge!!
old but gold: moment interrupted 🥴
Also it's the first time in a loooong time that I've had an idea for a 5+1, so I had to write it down as fast as possible before I'd lose it again.
Birthday in Adelboden (cancelled)
rating: T pairing: Justin Murisier/Mauro Caviezel and a few others (you have to see for yourself 😉) characters: Justin Murisier, Mauro Caviezel, Loïc Meillard, Zoé Chastan, Gino Caviezel, Marco Odermatt, Daniel Yule, Ramon Zenhäusern, Helmut Krug, Kurt Kothbauer, Hannes Hassler, Renzo Valsecchi length: 5'300 words
1.
Justin was the first to admit that he had a bit of a temper but there were few things that enraged him quite as much as the so-called “historic” races in his home country. Switzerland had tons of ski resorts that were ideal for the world cup, with entertaining tracks and enough space to host tens of thousands of people but no, every damn year they had to shlep the whole circus first into a small village at the end of a valley with only one road in or out, and then one week later on a mountain that had no road at all leading up. Everyone stood on everyone’s toes these two weeks, everyone went on everyone’s nerves, and ever so often somebody lost them entirely. Justin was reasonably sure that he might lose his today as he pushed past two members of staff from Swiss Ski, and further along through the cramped hotel towards his room. He had his hands full with his baggage and kicked against the door but Loïc was not here yet, and in the end he had to unload everything on the floor, and rifle through his pockets for the key. The hotel was quite old, the base for the Swiss Ski-team in Adelboden for many years, and still used actual keys. The room was barely wider than the hallway, and the window opened up towards a narrow alley and the neighbouring house, letting in almost no sunlight. Justin shuffled to the other side of the bed, and dropped his things again. It was not just the little space, or the crowds everywhere that irritated him but something else too. Of course, it was the middle of the season, with important races week after week, and everyone was busy. Of course he was used to it that his birthday lost against a good night’s sleep, and professional preparation year after year; and yet, this year’s birthday was supposed to be special, and Justin had to admit that he had hoped the others might see it too. But it was not. Not for them. With a sigh, Justin searched his pockets for his phone. Then his backpack. Then his suitcase. He swore, and stood up again, bracing himself for another run through the stuffed hallways. It had to be in the bus, maybe in the door, or on the back seat. He walked down, and stepped out into the busy streets of Adelboden. It was not that cold for January, and the village was free from any snow. Hordes of people walked past the hotel, making their way towards the Chuenisbärgli. Some of them recognised Justin and called out for him but with his rotten mood he managed barely more than a smile. The bus that had brought him and Loïc as well as their service men and material here stood behind the house, empty and abandoned. Justin sent a prayer to the heavens that it was unlocked, he definitely did not want to go search the whole hotel for the key, and tore the back door open. Immediately, he retracted said prayer.
“What the…?”
Loïc’s comically wide eyes stared at Justin for the fraction of a second before he shoved the person kneeling in front of him away, and pulled an indistinguishable heap of what looked to be canvas or bags over his lap. “Justin!” he yelled. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Justin stared with gaping mouth at the scene while Zoé scrambled around, and positioned her body so that she blocked Justin’s view of Loïc. Her hair tie was almost undone, and she frantically wiped strands of her hair out of her eyes.
“Have you never heard of knocking?” she shrieked, and pulled the door out of Justin’s hand.
“I’m…” he stammered, and stumbled a few steps back as Zoé slammed the door shut.
“I’m sorry,” he yelled while hectic movements inside made the bus shake softly. Loïc’s and Zoé’s voices sounded as unintelligible murmur through the metal while they talked among themselves.
“Yeah, it…it’s fine,” Loïc eventually answered. “Just…we’ll be inside shortly, okay?”
Justin blinked, and stared at the closed door of the bus. His heart pounded in his chest, his cheeks were burning, and he knew that he would not be able to look Loïc or Zoé in the eyes in the foreseeable future. Still, he needed his phone.
“But I have to get inside!” he yelled.
“We’re kinda busy at the moment!” Zoé yelled back, her voice still an octave higher than normal.
“My phone’s in there somewhere. I need it!”
Again Loïc and Zoé talked in hushed voices, and the bus shook anew as they moved about. After a few moments, the door opened a tiny bit, and a hand holding a phone reached out. Justin had just time enough to take it before the door shut again. He hesitated.
“Thanks,” he said to the bus.
“Yeah, no problem,” Loïc said.
Justin turned around but then he stopped, shook his head, and turned back again.
“Are…are you seriously going to finish now?”
“JUSTIN!” Loïc hollered.
“Okay, okay,” Justin answered. “I was just asking.” He turned around, and this time he really walked away, back towards the hotel.
“Didn’t know you were so freaky,” he muttered to himself.
2.
He checked his phone as he walked but there were no new messages. Not even from Mauro. Justin still opened the chat, just to get a quick look at he picture he had received yesterday. He smiled to himself as he looked at Mauro’s terrible attempt at a wink, and the delicious bit of exposed chest that coincidentally also had ended up on the picture. He could not wait until they could see each other again next week. He would have liked to have him here, on his birthday tomorrow, but Justin understood how hard it was for Mauro to watch from the sideline while the rest of them raced down the snow. With a small tinge in his heart he put his phone away. It was just after lunch, and the afternoon stretched endlessly because their cardio session had been cancelled without explanation. Justin paused at the edge of the lobby, thinking about what he might do now, but already he recognised a journalist in the corner of his eyes, ready to pounce on him like a prey animal, and he hurried on towards the stairs and the upper floors that were off-limits for outsiders. He decided to pay Gino and Marco a visit in their room seeing as Loïc was still busy and would not be up for a round of Brändi Dog for quite some time. Most of the people had moved into their rooms and somewhere else now, and the hallways were almost empty again. The carpet was old and worn out in the middle where thousands of people had walked over the last decades. It was quiet save for the muffled sounds coming from one of the rooms. They broke off abruptly when Justin knocked.
“Who’s there?” Gino’s voice sounded through the wall.
“It’s me,” Justin shouted back. A frown crossed his face as the seconds stretched without an answer coming from inside.
“Ahm…just a moment…sorry, we’ve got our hands full at the moment!” This voice belonged to Marco, and Justin rolled his eyes with a smile.
“Did you close the door when you came in?” He pushed the handle down, and realised that, of course, they had forgotten again that in this hotel the doors did not lock automatically.
“No, we didn’t”, Gino piped up, “but wait!”
The last exclamation came too late, the door swung open, and Justin’s eyes were assaulted by the picture inside.
Mercifully, Gino had just had enough time to throw the blanket over Marco, leaving only his tomato-red head visible, though there was still the fact that Gino’s own hands were underneath, somewhere around Marco’s hips.
“Oh my God!” Justin groaned, and stumbled backwards.
“I told you to wait!” Gino yelled at him.
“I’m sorry!” Justin yelled back, and put his foot in the door to keep it from shutting entirely. “I thought you needed help!”
“We don’t need anything, thanks!” Marco squeaked, and Justin heard the noise from fabric moving on fabric.
Justin did not know whether he should laugh or cry. He had never considered how lucky they had been so far; two couples in the same team, and nobody had ever walked in on them. Until now.
Why did it have to be him of all people to break that streak?
Silence had fallen, and it seemed that Gino and Marco misunderstood it.
“Is he gone?” Marco whispered.
“Still here!” Justin announced from behind the half-closed door. “I take it you’ll…need some time?”
“It’s not what you think it is!” Gino yelled out in desperation, and Justin snorted.
“But yeah, we do,” Marco added. “Maybe we could later…”
“Yeah, no hurry,” Justin sighed. “Have fun!”
“It’s not what…” Gino yelled again but Justin pulled the door shut, and fled as fast as possible.
3.
Justin did not go back to his room, fearing that Loïc might have finished his endeavour in the bus with Zoé in the meantime, and he could not bear the thought to be near him at the moment. He could also not go outside though, unless he wanted to answer a stream of inane questions from bored journalists. Thus, as a last resort, he jumped into the elevator, and rode into the basement. It spread further than the surface of the building on top of it, under the parking lot and the small garden. Despite the bigger size, space was cramped too, every surface occupied by skis or boots, tools to work on either of these things, red and blue gates, several fitness machines, tables where the physical therapists tended to the muscles of the athletes and a mountain of other things they needed during a race weekend as well as the usual stuff needed to keep a hotel running that could not be shown to the guests. Justin did the obstacle course through the labyrinthine hallways. At first he intended to go his skis, checking if his service man Michael was there but he changed his plans when he heard a pair of well-known voices from another room. The workday of a coach during training days began long before dawn, when the athletes could still sleep in their beds. They had to lug the heavy equipment on the mountain, prepare the course and the time registration. After the training, while their charges could ski back to the hotel and lie down with the physical therapists, they had to collect everything, and bring it back. They had a bit of down time in the afternoon though, while Justin and the rest of the team trained cardio or strength, unless Kurti cancelled the session like today, before they had to prepare for the next day. Justin's mood rose again after the harrowing events that had happened before, and he knocked at the door before opening it.
"Hey, I didn't know you're here. Can I stay with you for a while? You have no idea wha…" He broke off, and froze. It turned into a really bad habit of his.
"Oi! Have you ever heard of knocking?" Hannes barked.
"But I…I did," Justin stammered, and tried to move his body but the terror still had him in a chokehold. His eyes saw the scene in the room but his brain could not comprehend it yet.
Renzo shifted on his knees, and his head poked out from behind Hannes' legs. "Yeah, and you barged in before waiting our answer! Did your mother teach you no manners?"
"I…I didn't know," Justin stuttered weakly. "You never said anything…I thought you were…"
He blinked, and finally regained control over his body. Hannes and Renzo stayed glued in their position and glared at him accusingly. Justin counted it as a small blessing that he had not arrived thirty seconds later because Hannes had his pants still pulled up all the way at least. He could not even imagine the trauma should he have…
No! He could not finish the thought.
"Of course we didn't!" Hannes said. "That's the point, isn't it?"
"The…the point?"
"Of keeping it hidden, duh," Renzo answered.
Justin blinked again, then he shook his head. "But…you wouldn't have to hide it. You know we don't blab. Or have you ever heard anything about Gino and Marco outside of our team?"
Renzo's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "Wait no, it's not…"
He could not finish the sentence though because Hannes boxed him in the shoulder. Renzo glared up at him, and they had a silent exchange of looks before Hannes turned his head again to face Justin.
"It's not been that long," he explained coolly. "We didn't feel ready yet to tell you guys."
"Oh…"
They all looked at each other for a few seconds before Justin finally got a hold of himself. He knew how it would play out anyway.
"Well, I better go then…"
He did not hear what Hannes and Renzo said as he closed the door, and numbly stumbled towards the elevator.
4.
Justin blindly stared at the door of the elevator while the cabin jerked upwards, unable to grasp one of the thoughts whirring through his brain. This day had taken horrendous turn after horrendous turn, all he wanted to do was go back to his room, and hide until it was over. He did not even care if Loïc would be there. He had seen horrors beyond comprehension today, things could not possible get any worse. The door opened, Justin stepped out, and only then did he realise that he must have pushed the wrong button. He was on the third floor now, where there was only one vast conference room. The big, double winged door was just opposite of the elevators, and as it was wide open, Justin had the perfect view into the room, and at the giant square of tables where two men sat forlorn around a laptop and a flipchart.
Or, kind of sat.
Calmly, for what good was there to freak out, Justin raised his hand, and pressed the button for the second floor.
"Justin…?" Kurti asked, and crawled out from under the table.
"I don't want to know it!" he yelled, though it had the distinct tone of a sob, and pressed the button harder. "I really! Don't! Want! To! Know! It!"
"But Justin…" Krugi tried from his chair. It was the last thing Justin heard or saw.
Luckily.
5.
Loïc was away, probably still occupying the bus with Zoé, and Justin had the room to himself. He walked over to his bed, and fell face-down into the pillow. He stayed like that for who knows how long, until eventually he started to laugh. He laughed until he could not breathe anymore, and had to turn on his back. Tears were streaming down his temples and into the pillow, his stomach ached from the strain and still he could not stop laughing. When he could somewhat breathe again, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, and dialled a number. The first thing Justin heard through the phone was someone in the background grunting, and then something heavy being pushed over a surface.
"Hey, Honeybear…" Daniel began, sounding concerningly out of breath and stressed out, but Justin did not let him finish.
"If you tell me it's not a good time, so help me God, Daniel, I will jump out of the next gondola!"
Someone yelped in the background, and then the sound of movement wafted through the phone.
"What's going on?" Daniel asked, and seemed to stop.
"Oh, Poulette", Justin sighed, "Can we go for dinner tonight? I don't care if I have to come to La Fouly, I just need to get away from here."
"But I thought you wanted to celebrate your birthday with the team," Daniel threw in. "You know, because tomorrow's going to be so stressful."
"My birthday is cancelled," Justin said.
"What?" Daniel yelled. "No!"
Justin frowned into the air. "What?"
"I mean…" Daniel stammered, "why?
Justin chuckled. "It's a long story. You better sit down, because…" He broke off as the groaning he had heard in the beginning picked up again, and this time, Justin recognised who it was. He sat up.
"Is that Ramon?"
"Ahm…" Daniel said. "Yes! Actually, we're having a training session. He's…he's stretching."
In the background, Ramon's groans petered out in a shriek. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I didn't know it's that big!"
"I…I thought you are at home," Justin said.
"I am!" Daniel exclaimed. "I mean, we are. We're practising at home. It was…spontaneous."
"I don't think I can do this…" Ramon whined in the background. Daniel swore, and then his voice disappeared from the phone. Something heavy moved, and fell to the ground with a dull thud.
"Much better," Ramon sighed contentedly, and Justin swallowed around the rising nausea.
"I told you, you just have to let it go!" Daniel hissed, and then the phone moved again, and soon after his voice sounded loud and clear through the speaker again. "Hey, are you still here?"
Justin needed a moment until he could speak. "Yeah, I'm…what was that?"
"The…that was…" Daniel stammered. "The…stretching. We're almost done!"
Justin wanted to laugh but he bit it back. Daniel was such a bad liar.
"Poulette…" he sighed, and rubbed his eyes.
"What? I told you, we're at home because…"
"It's okay, really!" Justin interrupted him. "You should have told me…; you shouldn't have picked up the phone."
"It's okay, I'll always have time for you."
"I know, but you don't have to," Justin sighed. He smiled to himself, hoping it would reach through the phone. "I'm happy for you. Now go back to your training session, you silly love birds."
"What?" Daniel exclaimed. "Justin, you…"
Justin ended the call, and fell back into the pillow.
+1
He stared at the ceiling for a long time. In his head he was going back all the years he and Daniel had spent together in the slalom-team. He had never had the impression that he had a crush on Ramon; things must have changed a lot since he switched to giant slalom. But then again, Justin had never told Daniel about the real depth of his friendship with Mauro either, so he was in no place to feel miffed.
As if he could read his mind, Justin's phone rang in that moment. All the unfortunate incidents he had suffered this afternoon were lifted from his shoulders when he saw the name, and he could not hold back the smile washing over his face.
"Hi," he said, and the butterflies in his stomach fluttered up a storm when Mauro's deep chuckle hit his ear.
"That was fast," he said. "Hello."
"I just couldn't wait to hear from you."
The butterflies threatened to burst out of Justin when the chuckle grew to a laugh. "That's good to hear. And, how's it going in Adelboden?"
Justin sighed. "God, don't ask, please. I can't wait for this whole weekend to be over."
"What?" Mauro asked. "But it's your birthday tomorrow! You have to be happy."
"Not after everything that's happened today," Justin groaned. "My birthday's cancelled. We'll try again next year."
"No!" Mauro exclaimed. "I cannot accept that. What happened?"
Justin laughed, and rubbed his eyes. "What happened was…I don't even know where to begin."
"That bad?" Mauro asked. "Well, maybe I can cheer you up."
Justin perked up. "I'm sure you can," he smiled. "Any particular idea?"
"You know how I told you that I couldn't come to the race because…you know?"
Justin nodded. "It hurts too much," he finished the sentence
"Well," Mauro said, "I realised it hurts more to be away from you, especially on your birthday. So…"
"No way!" Justin yelled into the phone, and Mauro laughed again.
"Maybe you could join me in that little café behind the church?"
Justin jumped up from the bed, and ran out of the room. "Give me ten minutes!"
In the end, thanks to a rental bike from the hotel that helped Justin through the steep roads of Adelboden, it took fifteen minutes. Mauro sat at a table in the corner of the little café, and he stood up when Justin burst through the door. They hugged, nothing more, but Justin never wanted to let him go again.
"I missed you so much," Mauro whispered in his ear.
They ordered coffee, Mauro sitting in the corner, and Justin on the other side, with his back to the door. He could not resist, and tenderly stroked Mauro's hand with his finger.
Mauro smiled. "Can you tell me now what happened?"
Justin rolled his eyes, and kept his hand on top of Mauro's. It felt warm, like home. "I just…was the third wheel all afternoon," he began. "And not in a good way."
"Poor you," Mauro cooed. "Was everyone busy?"
Justin snorted. "Yeah, busy is just the right word."
Their coffee arrived, and reluctantly, Justin had to let go of Mauro. They stirred their coffees, and waited until the server had returned to the front of the café. Justin looked at Mauro, taking in the deep shadows under his clear blue eyes.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
They talked for a long time about Mauro's rehab, the therapy Justin had suggested and its progress. Their coffees got cold, and when Mauro proposed to leave, Justin realised that night had fallen outside of the café.
"We should go for dinner," he said as they stepped out into the growing cold. "Maybe in Frutigen somewhere? I think everything's booked around here."
Mauro hesitated before he answered. "I'd rather go to the hotel, to be honest."
Justin frowned. "The hotel? Why?"
Mauro bit on his lip, and slowly walked towards his car. "Well, you see…" He opened the car, and looked out towards the church.
"Yes?" Justin asked.
Finally, Mauro turned around to face him. "Well, you see, Loïc and Zoé are out, right?"
Justin had no idea where Mauro was going with that. "I guess, yeah. And?"
Even though the village was swarmed with people who had come for the race, Mauro stepped close to Justin, and cupped his chin with his hand. "That means we could have your room to ourselves for a few hours," he breathed, and Justin feared his knees might buckle. "…if you know what I mean."
Justin grinned, his eyes fully focused on Mauro's tantalising lips. He wanted to kiss him so bad, and barely managed to keep himself in check. "I know what you mean," he whispered.
The parking lot was almost full when they returned but the lobby surprisingly empty, and save for some hotel staff, nobody saw them sneak into the building.
"What floor?" Mauro asked when the stepped into the elevator, and put his hand over the buttons.
"Second," Justin answered, his focus fully turned on the door. At glacial speed it closed, inch for inch, and when the cabin lurched, he could not hold back any longer.
"Justin, I…" Mauro said, and nothing more since Justin pulled him over by the lapels of his jacket for a passionate kiss.
"I need you so bad!" Justin growled in Mauro's mouth, his teeth scraping over the delicious stubble around Mauro's chin before returning for another kiss. His hands worked on their own, one opening the zipper of Mauro's jacket, the other feeling its way around Mauro's hardening bulge under his jeans.
"No, Justin…" Mauro tried, and attempted to push him away.
"I've had to wait so long," Justin said between breathless kisses. "I won't let go of you until we're done!"
"But…"
He did not know what Mauro wanted to say because in that moment, several things happened all at once. First, the doors of the elevator opened; Justin could have sworn at twice the speed they had closed. Second, he realised that Mauro had pushed the wrong button and third, they were not alone. A giant group of people stood in front of the elevator, and their cheers and shouts filled the entire third floor, even when the ones standing at the very front broke off abruptly.
"SURPRISE!"
Epilogues:
Loïc and Zoé:
"Come on, it is kinda funny."
Loïc glared at his girlfriend who broke down in giggles again.
"It is not!" Loïc exclaimed. "Justin thinks we hooked up! In the bus!"
"But at least he didn't see the banner, that's all that counts."
Loïc mumbled something under his breath, and folded the long canvas over once more. From the outside, it looked to be nothing more than a simple blanket, with the cords to attach it to the wall stuffed between the folds. It had taken great pains to thread them through the small holes but finally, the task was done. Loïc stood up, and held his hand out to open the back door of the bus, when Zoé stepped in his path.
"You know," she smiled, and slowly sank to her knees. "Justin's not going to come back, and we've still got some time until we have to go meet the others…"
Loïc's mouth went slack, and without resistance he plopped back down on the back seat.
"Zoé…" he muttered, and Zoé innocently smiled up at him as she opened the button of his trousers. "God, I…" He could not say more because in that moment he jumped up with a loud shriek, and hit his head on the roof of the car. Zoé tumbled on her backside, and with a shocked expression looked up at her boyfriend.
"Fuck!" Loïc swore, and cupped his groin and his head with one hand each. "Jesus, no!"
"What happened?" Zoé asked. "What's going on?"
"What's going on?" Loïc exclaimed, and stared at her with wide eyes. "Your hands are icicles!"
Zoé's brows furrowed. "Seriously?" she deadpanned. "It's January in the Alps. What were you expecting?"
"Not a freezer burn on my dick, that's for sure!" Loïc whined, and sank down on the seat again. "Ouch, my head."
Zoé watched without pity how Loïc rubbed his head some more. Eventually, she sighed. "This is not going to happen, is it?"
Marco and Gino:
"Justin's coming into the room, and your first idea is to jump on it?" Gino stared at Marco with a dumbfounded look.
"I wasn't jumping on it!" Marco insisted, and swore as he scraped the sticky mess from his sweater. "I just wanted to shield it! And good that I did, seeing as your glorious idea was to throw the whole blanket on top of it!"
"Just to cover it!" Gino exclaimed. "I held my hands above. Nothing would have touched it!"
"Yeah, right," Marco scoffed. "My blanket is ruined! I'll have to get a new one from the reception, and what am I going to tell them? I accidentally dropped cake on it?"
Gino shrugged, and wiped over the stains on the blanket with another tissue. "Why not? It's the truth, after all."
Together they inspected the cake resting on the small table under the television. One of the edges had lost the cream covering. Gino turned it around, and looked at it from the other side.
"I think if we put it like that…"
Marco nodded. "Could have been worse. Also, we're going to eat it anyway. So…"
Gino smiled at him. "You're right."
Marco smiled back, and covered the space between. "You know, Justin for sure won't return now that he thinks we're doing it."
Gino leant in for a kiss, and pulled Marco in a hug. "You're so right," he muttered, and let himself be guided towards the bed. "No better time than…ewww…"
"What?" Marco scrambled aside as Gino rolled out from under him, and fell to the floor.
"There's another stain!" Gino squealed, and felt the back of his head. "I laid right into it…this is so disgusting!"
"It's just cake," Marco tried. "Can't we…?"
"No!" Gino waved him off, and turned towards the bathroom. "I'm sorry, not today. I need a shower."
Renzo and Hannes:
Renzo glared at Hannes. "The first thing we'll do after we all yelled 'surprise' is set the whole thing straight!"
"In every sense of the word," Hannes grinned, and waggled his eyebrows.
Renzo snorted, and pulled the last crate of Justin's favourite wine from under the heap of gates that they had used as cover. Hannes grabbed it, and put it on the trolley with the rest of the beverages.
"I'm serious," Renzo said, and stood up from the floor. "That's how rumours start, and I sure as hell don't want that particular one to circulate."
"Why not?" Hannes asked. "Think about it: Every year we tell the guys that during the week our break extends from one to four p.m. because we start at the ass-crack of dawn, and every year, day after day, they come whinging about some stupid problem that they could solve on their own if they just tried. Now, if they all thought we'd use that time to do…you know…we could actually have our peace."
Renzo pursed his lips. "Hmm…"
Hannes' grin was exceedingly smug. "Exactly." They pushed the trolley out into the hallway, and Renzo closed the door behind them. They were halfway towards the elevator, when he paused.
"Wait, no!" he yelled, and boxed Hannes in the arm. "Fuck no! We're not going to let them believe I'm sucking your knob just because you want to laze around!"
Hannes laughed, and rubbed the spot where Renzo's fist had hit him. "Come on! And what if I tell them we do more than that?"
The elevator arrived, and Renzo glared at Hannes as he pushed the trolley inside.
"I'll have you know I'm a very tender lover," Hannes added, and winked at him.
Renzo turned on his heel. "I'm taking the stairs."
Kurti and Krugi:
"What is with that boy again?" Krugi shook his head, and stared at the closed door of the elevator.
Kurti put the pen he had retrieved back on the table, and pulled himself up again. "I wished I knew," he answered, and wiped the dust off his pants. "Come on, let's hurry with the revision of the plan. They want to decorate the room for the surprise party."
Daniel and Ramon:
"Couldn't you have brought a picture of it? Now we have to carry it back on Sunday evening, and for what? Just some dumb party?"
"It's not a dumb party!" Daniel barked, and Ramon rolled his eyes. "It's Justin's 30th birthday. Of course I have to bring the gift along!"
"Well, next time you take a call, maybe wait until you've put the thing in your hands down," he muttered. "Especially when it's so bloody heavy and I have to carry the other half."
"I said my side was okay, and you could just let go," Daniel repeated, and checked whether the sturdy wooden bench rested safely on the small cart. With his hand he wiped over the inscription with the congratulations for Justin's birthday. It would make a good look in his garden, Daniel knew, and he smiled.
"Okay, and how do we get it inside now?" Ramon asked, and eyed the stairs towards the entrance of the hotel with distrust.
Daniel pointed towards the parking lot in the back of the hotel, and started to push the cart. "We have to get in through the basement, and take the elevator from there."
Ramon sighed, and joined Daniel in pushing.
"By the way, what happened?"
Daniel frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"You ended the call kinda panicked. Did something happen?"
Daniel shrugged. "Nah, it's okay. Just a misunderstanding."
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mcgnussen · 1 year
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So I was just re-watching the Brazil Qualifying on an old twitch reaction, because I'm a Stan and I need the endorphins to keep me going over winter break.
But apparently Sky Germany didn't even show the post qualifying interviews, or at least not Kevin live, but instead showed an interview with Helmut Marco. I don't know if that how they usually do it and never show the interviews live or what. But I know that Sky Germany don't like Kevin (they never have, even before Mick), but still... that's some next level pettiness.
lmao i've re-watched q3 of the brazilian quali like five times, so i definitely feel you! but this is very interesting as this is not the first time i've heard of this. maybe it originally stems back to nico and kevin's little spat in 2017? but i could also see stereotypical germans not being a big fan of aggressive drivers. poor kevin that has only gone from one german to another then. i also think sky germany just doesn't like haas. honestly, they have been way too much this season and they are responsible for half of the mick rumours that keep circulating. i thought germans generally liked danes, so i'm confused as to why they have something against kevin. i don't know if ralf schumacher is involved with sky germany, but i will be willing to blame him because he's such a dick. imagine saying that haas should drop kevin and keep mick and nico instead - just for k-mag to get pole and mick p20 like a week later 💀
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jimbloom68 · 2 months
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From the late 1960s until the early 1990s, with the authorization and financial support of the Berlin Senate, Kentler placed neglected youth as foster children in the homes of single pedophile fathers with the ostensible purpose of resocializing them, while explicitly encouraging sexual contact between them. Helmut Kentler - WikipediaWikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Helmut_KentlerAbout featured snippets•Feedback The German Experiment That Placed Foster Children with ...The New Yorkerhttps://www.newyorker.com › Magazine › GermansJul 19, 2021 — The German Experiment That Placed Foster Children with Pedophiles · One night, Marco took a knife from the kitchen and slept with it under his ... Berlin authorities placed children with pedophilesDWhttps://www.dw.com › berlin-authorities-placed-childr...Jun 15, 2020 — Berlin authorities placed children with pedophiles ... The 'Kentler Project' in West Berlin routinely placed homeless children with pedophile men, ...
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lorarri · 4 months
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Hi I know your requests are closed but I was wondering if I could ask you a question about a driver if you’d write for them or not and reasons why.
So the driver I’m wondering about is Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez because there is a lack in fics for him so I was just wondering if you’d ever write about him?
. . . ❨ hi, so checo is actually one of the only driver I don't write for as I just don't feel much of a pull to him as a driver so for that reason I don't currently write for him and why I probably never will. Also just to answer some other asks I have about people who I don't write for, I will not write for kevin magnussen, nico hulkenberg, christian horner, helmut marco - hope this clears things up ❩
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sedicii · 2 months
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this is part 2/2
Thirdly, I'm actually really excited about the pairing that is Lewis and Charles, because both are strong (adaptable) drivers and imo Ferrari has a very good chance to at least win the WCC in 2025. Lewis is a 7xWDC and of course it might seem like he gets what he wants from Ferrari (in comparison to Charles, also we don't really know what their contracts look like apart from what they tell the media) And people need to chill about the #1/#2 driver situation, if Charles beats Lewis in the beginning of the season and if he is actually in the contention for the WDC, then I doubt Ferrari (with Fred Vasseur, who is restructuring the team after basically observing how everything worked for a year; see my first rant) would actually make Charles the second driver. (and vice verse of course) (and I doubt Charles wasn't at least informed that they were pursuing Lewis because I'm sure he had known that the contract negotiations with Sainz weren't going far.)
you said 'But the overall argument that Charles accepting a 7x wdc champion as his teammate means he doesn’t have a champion mentality is something I strongly disagree with' which I 100% agree with!!! I think him accepting that (if we want to believe that he actually had a say) makes him more competetive!
You saying 'If everything else is aligned (the car, strategies etc), I will always bet on Charles.' 🫱🏻‍🫲🏻 Charles saying he will always bet on red (I couldn't find the exact quote sorry)
I'm loving all the Charles content that we're getting. Him skiing? (Stressed me out so much but I loved it, also if I hadn't been sick during that time, my bestie (who doesn't watch F1) and I would have driven down to where he was in Austria because she knows I am a fan and she is the best) him going karting while everyone and their grandma was talking about Lewis joining Ferrari is iconic behaviour in my opinion. And I love the fact that people just hand their babies to him.
What I am interested in is your opinion in Charles' engineer Xavier Marcos? because I've seen a lot different opinions on him and tbh I don't really know enough to form an opinion. 🤷🏻‍♀️
And what I want to mention because I've seen it again and again and even Toto said that had Lewis told them earlier, then Mercedes could have snatched up Charles or Lando. The thing about Lando and Redbull is that I don't think it's actually happening anytime soon, BECAUSE (and I only know this because I heard this in the 'F1: beyond the grid' podcast where they interview different people involved in motorsports and Lando's was one of the many I listened to): He describes how Helmut Marko once asked to talk to him and he then proceeds to ask him questions and Lando specifically mentions being asked how much the FRECA car weighs and Lando (like most) didn't know and Marko then said that Max would know and the way Lando's voice changes and his tone, you can tell he won't leave Mclaren (where he basically has grown up and feels comfortable) to go to Redbull. And like you said, and like Lando has said in an interview, the contract renewals was more for the team than for him.
Excited to hear your opinions in the upcoming seaon and just want to thank you again for creating a space where we all can talk
hope you have a nice day 🤍
About the 1/2 driver situation I completely agree as well, I think it's such a big subject when it shouldn't be, at least not now. But I'm not entirely surprised because there's always been a discourse about that with Ferrari in particular. And I guess from Charles' fan there's also the worry of the situation with Sainz repeating. But it's definitely too soon, that's a question for the future and for now I choose to trust Fred's no-nonsense attitude.
Ohh about Charles quote, it goes like "Here or elsewhere, I always bet on the red" (but the original quote is in Italian actually). I made a compilation of some of his most insane quotes during the break and you can find this specific one in there ;)
"I'm loving all the Charles content that we're getting." YES 🤝 I love my silly winter break Charles 🥺 he's so chaotic and adorable T_T (but damn him for always making me worry tho haha even during the break, between the skiing and the using his phone while karting…)
About Xavi it's a bit complicated to form an opinion because we don't know everything but knowing that Charles defends him at every turn is enough for me. I believe in Charles and he believes in Xavi so that's enough for me. I think he's been accused of so much shit he isn't responsible for. Not to say he's never made a mistake but I think there's a big focus on him and so much pressure when actually even when he makes mistakes it's usually shit other drivers blame their engineers for as well (talking in turns, talking when breaking or stuff). I don't think he's perfect but I don't think he's nearly as bad as most people think. And he's been with Charles for so long now that I think it's good for them to keep on working together, they know one another, they're comfortable and according to Charles he's the only one who was on his side during the whole Binotto debacle. Canal + once made an interview about Charles (in 2019 I think) and Xavi appeared in it, it was at the beginning of their collaboration, it was quite interesting and he talked about his job as Charles' race engineer.
About Lando, I don't believe for a second that he would ever go to Red Bull for various reasons tbh. And for now, he has a good position within McLaren, a team which is starting to improve as well (although Oscar's arrival and success does represent a threat to his position).
"Excited to hear your opinions in the upcoming seaon and just want to thank you again for creating a space where we all can talk" 🥺
-> thank you for this, this is really heartwarming and so sweet of you to say, I'm really enjoying all of our discussions and this space/community we have <33 it's really crazy to me how anyone could be interested in my opinions or anything T-T but this blog really has become so important to me and it's a safe place I cherish. thank YOU (and everyone else on here for participating in creating this safe place!!)
I hope you have a nice day and nice end of the week as well 🤍
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bamboomusiclist · 2 months
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1/28 おはようございます。Tom Waits / Franks Wild Years ITW-3 等更新しました。
Benny Carter / New Jazz Sounds mgn-1044 Herman Foster /Ready and Willing lp727 Joe Bushkin / In Concert Town Hall RS-6119 Martin Taylor / Spirit of Django Akh030 Barney Kessel / Blue Soul blp30161 Ben Webster / Live at the Haarlemse Jazzclub catlp11 Klaus Flenter / the Trio mlp198526 Marco Di Marco / Best & Unreleased Mjc0500 Doug Raney / Something's Up scs1235 Darji Darwin Gross / Meets Hank Jones sjp171 Helmut Aniko / Helmut Aniko & VIB Project c6031195006 Stevie Wonder / the Secret Life of Plants t13-371c2 Isley Brothers / Smooth Sailin 925586-1 Grant Green / Shades of Green bst84413 Michael Bundt Just Landed Cosmic Kid As63069 Steely Dan / the Royal Scam abcd-931 Steely Dan / Gaucho mca-6102 Tom Waits / Foreign Affairs 7e1117 Tom Waits / Swordfishtrombones ILPS-9762 Tom Waits / Franks Wild Years ITW-3
~bamboo music~
530-0028 大阪市北区万歳町3-41 シロノビル104号
06-6363-2700
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hoerbahnblog · 8 months
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"Der Osten leuchtet" – mit Ralf-Rainer Rygulla, Marco Sagurna, Axel Dielmann und Uwe Kullnick – Lyrik on Stage
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Hörbahn on Stage Wer war Helmut Gröttrup? “Der Osten leuchtet” – mit Ralf-Rainer Rygulla (Hrsg.), Marco Sagurna (Hrsg.), Axel Dielmann und Uwe Kullnick – Lyrik on Stage Lesung und Gespräch erfolgten als Zoom-Meeting. Wir bitten die fehlerhafte Tonqualität der Aufzeichnung zu entschuldigen.  Das Lyrik-Gespräch (Hördauer ca. 90…
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korrektheiten · 8 months
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AfD-Verbot gefordert – Wieder ein echter Wanderwitz
Tichy:»Marco Wanderwitz, geboren in Karl-Marx-Stadt und seines Zeichens Rechtsanwalt, legt die Axt an die Wurzel der Demokratie. Weil seine CDU sich unter dem Dirigat von Kanzlerin Dr. Angela Dorothea Merkel der grünen Transformation ergeben hat, und der einst konservativen Deutschland-Partei Helmut Kohls nun in Ost wie West in Scharen die Wähler davonlaufen, möchte er die Der Beitrag AfD-Verbot gefordert – Wieder ein echter Wanderwitz erschien zuerst auf Tichys Einblick. http://dlvr.it/SsWWyM «
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whatisonthemoon · 2 years
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On Yamashita’s Gold, Singlaub, and the Events Following Marcos’ Departure
Excerpt from The Marcos Dynasty by Sterling Seagrave
From 1984 on, the search for the remainder of Yamashita's Gold was overseen by a Manila company called Nippon Star, virtually the same group of men who had run the Leber Group ten years earlier. Nippon Star was set up originally by ordinary gold seekers who failed to find anything significant. Their company was taken over by the CIA, in keeping with the Agency's practice of turning existing companies into fronts and inserting their own people.
After that, the Manila end of Nippon Star was run by Cesar Lehran of the old Leber Group, a Filipino whose allegiance was owed to Fabian Ver. The company was listed as wholly owned by Phoenix Exploration Services, Ltd., 90 Chancery Lane, London. That company, in turn, was wholly owned by Helmut Trading (apparently a play on words), registered in Liberia under a bearer stock, so its true ownership could never be traced. Associated with Nippon Star, though, was a group calling itself the Phoenix Overseas Project, understood to be one of the fronts of General Singlaub, whose American base was in Phoenix, Arizona. Whatever the case, Singlaub made use of the Nippon Star offices whenever he was in Manila. Another affiliate of Nippon Star was the Delta International Group, headed by Vernon R. Twyman of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a leader of the Praise The Lord Church and its PTL religious broadcasting network. Twyman once told Nippon Star stockholders that they had a "joint venture" arrangement with Sultan Omar DinaIan's Sod Research & Recovery of the Philippines, a friend of President Marcos and one of those involved in excavating for Yamashita's Gold since 1975 or earlier. Thus both Singlaub and Twyman were involved as private citizens with Ferdinand's gold recovery effort at least as early as 1984.
The fact that big guns of the PTL were busy in the same areas as General Singlaub and his military-intelligence associates is hardly surprising. Many American conservative activists were quite naturally also members of PTL and other fundamentalist crusades such as Moral Majority, the Reverend Moon's CAUSA, and so forth. So it is hardly surprising that activists in some of these religious groups were drawn into the search for Yamashita's Gold.
Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, and Pat Robertson were becoming well known to Filipinos, along with the Campus Crusade for Christ, the Church of the Four Square Gospel, and others that evangelized aggressively with the direct encouragement of President Marcos. These individuals turned a blind eye to the brutality of the regime. During the Reagan administration, right-wing religious leaders were sometimes approached directly by Colonel North to participate in CIA covert operations, including funding the Contras. It was perhaps fitting that conservative religious groups were involved in the great Christian crusade for Yamashita's Gold.
pp.395-397 ===== Over the years, the CIA and the National Security Agency had established in the Philippines America's largest telecommunications and technical intelligence base in the Far East, capable of monitoring radio and microwave phone transmissions all over Asia, linked to surveillance satellites that could discern something as small as the numbers on an automobile license plate. Although these were generally directed outward, to cover the Pacific and the Asian mainland, they were also capable of keeping close watch within the Philippines. They could easily monitor all of Fabian Ver's secret communications throughout the archipelago. The Pentagon and the CIA had helped Ver acquire the telecommunications net used by NISA and the Presidential Security Command. In the early 1980s, more than $10 million had been spent to upgrade Ver's telecom system with new computerized electronics from Stromberg-Carlson. Not only could the CIA and NSA monitor the entire system, but they could patch into it at will to interrupt messages, or to substitute false messages. When Ver's transmissions were scrambled, they could be instantly unscrambled.
p.410 =====
Epilogue
PARADISE LOST
THE REGIME LASTED for twenty years only because Filipinos allowed themselves to be convinced that the dictator was in firm control, that his secret police Were everywhere, that his army was overwhelmingly powerful, and that Ferdinand Marcos himself was supernaturally endowed. These things were true up to a point. Beyond that, the impression of power and omniscience was exaggerated by showmanship and grotesque extremes of cruelty. Ordinary people were psyched out. It was the logical outcome of Edward Lansdale's shallow insight into human nature, which failed in Vietnam but worked in the Philippines. Inexperienced at resistance, and unaccustomed to armed struggle, when they finally took to the streets of Manila in exasperation and the Marcoses fled without a struggle, nobody was more astounded than Filipinos themselves, who coined the term "People Power" with refreshing innocence.
After the sudden departure of Ferdinand and Imelda, many Filipinos thought everything was going to change. But in fact little changed. The country had been so thoroughly looted that it had serious problems just feeding itself. Famine continued on Negros and other islands, and in Manila the number of street beggars was up sharply. Washington was more interested in returning the Philippines to status quo than in promoting dramatic reforms. The status quo meant getting back to strongman rule as quickly as possible, while paying elaborate homage to democratic principles. The talk about encouraging a healthy opposition and about correcting the feudal serfdom of the vast majority of Filipinos, was just talk. The norm established in the islands under American suzerainty was the rule of the elite, enforced by death squads, the democracy of the Ku Klux Klan. Cory Aquino, while apparently genuinely committed to land reform and correction of other longstanding abuses, was confronted by so many entrenched enemies of reform that she was forced to defer action indefinitely in order to concentrate on mere survival. So long as there was no genuine reform, whatever money was produced in the islands would continue to flee to safer places. Beautiful as it was, the Philippines was a place to rob, not a place to live.
After a honeymoon with the people, and the ratification of a new constitution, the Aquino government was obliged to purge itself of its reformers and to permit the reintroduction of some of the worst aspects of the Marcos regime. Negotiations with the NPA were broken off and a state of civil war resumed. Vigilante gangs identical to those under Marcos were reinstated and legitimized by Aquino's military staff to fight the "Communist menace."
In March 1987, President Reagan approved a "finding" which cast a pall over all prospects for improvement, providing $10 million for two years of increased CIA involvement in the Philippine government's counterinsurgency campaign. This included technical assistance, help-ing the Philippine military with intelligence gathering, providing com-puters, computer training, and so on. It authorized the Agency to hire Filipinos to spy on each other. CIA agents in the islands would increase by 10 percent, and they would have freedom to deal directly with Filipino soldiers at all ranks, rather than only at the chief-of-staff level.
It was a decision on a par with the meddling of MacArthur, with Truman and Eisenhower giving Lansdale a license to kill Huks and to fake the election of Magsaysay, with Johnson bribing Marcos to become involved in the Vietnam War, and with Nixon and Kissinger endorsing the Marcos seizure of dictatorial power.
The proper atmosphere for this decision was created in the same manner as the Tonkin Gulf Incident, by a rash of dubious reports of secret Soviet arms shipments to the NPA, and the alleged presence of Soviet advisers in NPA training camps. Marcos had done the same thing in his long buildup toward martial law, as Enrile had faked the attack on his car.
The head of one of the largest of the new post-Marcos vigilante groups, "Rising Masses," was Jun Porras Pala, a radio announcer and public crusader in Davao City, who created a right-wing reign of terror in Mindanao. Identifying villages known to be sympathetic to the NPA, Pala issued ultimatums on his radio station telling the villagers to join his group, or they would become targets. Thousands of villagers either joined or fled. When civil officials and religious activists opposed Pala, he broadcast death threats against them. The Aquino government did not put him in jail or in a mental hospital. Instead, Pala's group was encouraged by Davao's military police commander. The new defense minister, West Point graduate Rafael Ileto, and Local Governments Secretary Jaime Ferrer (both old Lansdale men) publicly endorsed the vigilantes. General Fidel Ramos, the hero of the Marcos overthrow, praised vigilantes as "civilian organizations dedicated to the defense of their community."
The vigilante phenomenon in the countryside coincided with the rebirth of anti-Communist anxiety in the cities. Once again the middle class was being told that a Communist takeover was imminent, and once again it was easily convinced. The right wing, failing repeatedly in its efforts to topple Aquino with inept military plots, reverted to terrorist tactics. Leaders of the left and right were brutally slain, including Jaime Ferrer on the right and Leandro Alejandro on the left. Ernie Maceda dusted off the old Marcos bromide and suggested that Alejandro had been killed by his own people to cast suspicion on the right.
Christian fundamentalist sects like joy of the Lord Jesus, the Word of Life International, and Heaven's Magic preached rabid anti-Communist doctrines fomenting fear and hatred in the barrios. Most aggressive of the Christian groups was CAUSA International, the political arm of the Reverend Moon's Unification Church, which had aided U.S. efforts to support the Contras in Nicaragua. The chairman of CAUSA, Bo Hik Pak, acknowledged CIA funding. In August and October 1986, CAUSA held conferences on national security in Manila, bringing together people like General John Singlaub and Ray Cline with top Philippine strongmen such as Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile. In March 1987, CAUSA organized a Philippine national conference of vigilante groups, with the raving right-wing terrorist from Davao, Jun Porras Pala, as the keynote speaker. At the conclusion of the conference, participants agreed to organize nine regional CAUSA chapters throughout the Philippines.
The rise of right-wing death squads and the Philippine operations of John Singlaub were not mere coincidence. Singlaub had direct ties to at least one of the Filipino vigilante groups. Alberto Maguigad, alias 'Jake Madigan," boasted that his Counter-Insurgency Command, based in Cagayan de Oro, was funded by Singlaub. Maguigad bragged that two Green Berets were training his men in counterinsurgency tactics.
A senior Philippine military officer said Singlaub was traveling the country meeting right-wing groups to create the right psychological atmosphere for a new Operation Phoenix. We might well wonder whose names would be on the list for extermination. Singlaub also was said to be bringing Special Forces veterans to the islands to train selected units of the Philippine armed forces-at least thirty-seven American mercenaries being imported by Singlaub for that purpose. Chief-of-Staff Fidel Ramos ridiculed the allegation: "I would like you to know that the new armed forces of the Philippines has nothing to do with General Singlaub, he had nothing to do with us before, he has nothing to do with us now, and he will have nothing to do with us in the future. This is a lot of baloney. We don't want him and we don't need him."
Ramos had been acquainted with Singlaub for many years, from Korea and Vietnam. In July 1986, Singlaub came to see Ramos in Manila. Four months later, in November 1986, Singlaub returned to the Philippines with Ray Cline and Major General Robert Schweitzer, recently retired from Reagan's NSC staff. Singlaub and Cline apparently were the two secret envoys Reagan sent to Manila that November to warn Defense Minister Enrile not to attempt a coup against Mrs. Aquino. But while they were there, they held a few other meetings, including one with Enrile, Fidel Ramos, and Brigadier General Felix Brawner. These meetings were so secret that some of the men who attended entered the Philippines under false names. Cory Aquino's brother, Jose Cojuangco, was present at two of the meetings, which were held at the Aquino sugar plantation in Tarlac Province, although Cojuangco later denied he was there. It was soon after this meeting that Reagan approved his "finding" to expand CIA operations in the islands.
What were Singlaub and his secret team really up to in the Philippines-and why the right-wing feeding frenzy?
Funding secret right-wing "initiatives" had not become any cheaper since the fall of Ferdinand Marcos. There was always the rest of Yamashita's Gold, another $100 billion or so-the real reason why John Singlaub was back in the Philippines.
In September 1985, five months before Marcos fell, Singlaub came to Manila personally to get permission to dig. A senior Philippine government official said that Ambassador Bosworth, acting on White House orders, accompanied Singlaub to a meeting that September with Finance Minister Jaime Ongpin. The source said that Singlaub also asked for security protection, or approval to employ private guards. One of Singlaub's high-level official contacts was retired Brigadier General Luis Villareal, who directed the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and served as president of the Philippine Anti-Communist League.
Shortly after Singlaub's visit, Vernon Twyman's Delta International Group in Tulsa, Oklahoma, got in touch with a Georgia engineer, Al Meyers, who had developed a laser device to find buried gold. A testing laboratory had tested and accepted the device, which reacted when its beam encountered heavy metals of certain densities. The rest was high school trigonometry. Meyers had already been approached by a Houston group, Great Southern & Salvage, which specialized in offshore recovery. They all went to the Philippines to pinpoint Yamashita's Gold at several sites. After having problems with Twyman, Meyers broke off and went to work on his own at a reef in Calatagan Bay, 70 miles south-southwest of Manila. He was helped by Paul Jiga, who told Meyers he had watched a Japanese general's men bury the gold at the reef with the slave labor of Allied POWs, booby-trap it, and cork the hole with a huge slab of concrete, after which they machine-gunned the POWs and left their bodies to be devoured by sharks. Ben Balmores, who had retired more than ten years earlier, was in hiding from the treasure hunters and was reported to be in failing mental health.
Initially, Meyers dealt with Cesar Loran and Alfonso Adeva at Nippon Star, but after Ferdinand and Imelda fled, Meyers was taken to see President Aquino. Among the seven others attending the meeting were Mrs. Aquino's uncle, Congressman Francisco Sumulong, the person she designated to deal with people attempting to recover the gold. The standard arrangement offered Meyers by Sumulong was 75 percent of any treasure to the government of the Philippines, the remainder to the finder.
Meyers said he promised Aquino that his efforts would not cost her government a peso, but he needed coast guard protection in the form of an armed government launch to protect his crew from maraudersFilipinos and Americans connected to other groups that were also searching for the gold at various sites. Meyers told Aquino he expected to recover about 800 tons of gold at the one site. Mrs. Aquino was said to have exclaimed, "My God, it is the second miracle!"
Meanwhile, the PTL-affiliated Tulsans associated with General Singlaub's Phoenix Overseas Project obtained permission to work a different site with Nippon Star. Singlaub's people actually began digging at one site three months before the fall of Ferdinand Marcos, and apparently uncovered some 110-pound gold bars, which renewed their determination. They seem to have had difficulty dealing with Marcos and Ver, so by all accounts Singlaub himself was happy to see Marcos go, and was soon making fresh arrangements with the new government. Cory Aquino's speech writer, Teodoro Locsin, apparently assisted Singlaub in obtaining the necessary new permits. Cory's brother, Jose Cojuangeo, reportedly offered to support Singlaub's recovery effort financially, and to guarantee security by providing Constabulary troops at their prime site in Batangas Province, the Laurel stronghold south of Manila.
Juan Ponce Enrile also assured Singlaub of military support, if necessary with his own private army. But just to be sure, Singlaub brought in his own U.S. Special Forces. It was the arrival of these men, thirtyseven in all, which inspired the rumors that Singlaub was training the Philippine armed forces in counterinsurgency, the rumors denied by Fidel Ramos.
Actually finding the gold was another matter. Locations of some land sites were known, as the reefs were known, but the tricky problem remained to pinpoint the exact position and find the way to reach it without setting off booby traps. This was what had stymied Ferdinand until he brought in Olof Jonsson. While Meyers was working his reef site in Calatagan Bay, for example, he found it impossible to approach the treasure directly, because-aside from the explosives planted in the reef-the access tunnel had been designed to cave in on anyone excavating along the obvious approach. To reach the treasure from any other direction required knowing its exact location and the precise situation of 2,000-pound bombs. The original Japanese detail maps had gone with Robert Curtis, and Curtis had vanished.
In the autumn of 1986, according to well-informed sources in Manila, two men representing Singlaub went to work tracking Curtis down. Before the year was out, they had found him, living in a new town, with a new job and new name. They identified themselves as representatives of Nippon Star. Curtis already knew all about Nippon Star-he had kept a wary eye on developments from a distance. The two men pleaded with him to become involved once again in the search. They desperately needed his maps and his knowledge of the sites. Curtis refused.
A few days later, Curtis was contacted by someone closer to Singlaub. Someone who also had ties to Jay Agnew and his associates at the John Birch Society, who Curtis said had offered to launder up to $20 billion in gold for Ferdinand Marcos. He was extremely anxious to meet Curtis personally, to discuss the Nippon Star project. Curtis again said he did not want anything to do with those people.
The contact man admitted, reluctantly, that General Singlaub was involved, and pleaded with Curtis not to go to the press. Nippon Star had received too much publicity, so it was being shut down and everything would be handled from then on through offshore corporations set up in Panama and Nigeria. He said they needed Curtis badly. In the weeks to follow, he called Curtis again and again, and eventually came to see him.
What John Singlaub was after, he said, was to set up an endowment to fund anti-Communist activities around the world that the U.S. Congress refused to support. They would uncover the gold, give a big cut to the Philippines, and keep the rest for the endowment, which would dispense the funds as needed. They knew generally where to dig, but they needed the detail maps and engineering drawings from Curtis to do the excavating more precisely. Without the maps, it would take much longer and the gold might be missed by inches. They were trying to recruit Olof Jonsson also.
Curtis still refused to become involved.
His phone rang again. This time it was General Robert Schweitzer at the Pentagon. Although he had retired from the army and the National Security Council to work with Singlaub, Schweitzer still had the use of a Pentagon office.
General Schweitzer said he was calling about General John Singlaub's search for Yamashita's Gold. Curtis took the precaution of phoning his caller back on the main Pentagon switchboard, to make sure he was who he said he was.
Schweitzer's message was simple: Curtis must help Singlaub get Yamashita's Gold-to help in the fight against communism in Nicaragua and elsewhere.
"It is your patriotic duty," he told Curtis.
Soon afterward, Curtis was on his way to Hong Kong. He spent three days discussing the proposition with General Singlaub, General Schweitzer, and others. According to reliable sources in Hong Kong and Manila, Singlaub and his group were well prepared for the meeting. They had detailed CIA dossiers on Curtis, knew all about him and his history, and they knew how to play him.
Curtis was offered a seat on the board of Singlaub's new endowment, which would administer the recovery operation and determine the disposition of all the gold found. He would be one of a small group of its directors, among them General Singlaub and six other active or retired U.S. generals. Associated with them would be several leading Filipinos, including Cory's brother Jose Cojuangco and his uncle, Congressman Sumulong. Schweitzer was not among the directors listed, nor were two others whom Schweitzer wanted to bring in on the projectRay Cline and General John Vessey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Singlaub reportedly was afraid that they would attract unwanted publicity. Although there had been many stories in the Filipino press, up to this point there had been only a few in America because the whole idea of Yamashita's Gold sounded so preposterous. Singlaub was worried that the involvement of Cline and particularly of Vessey would finally alert American journalists to the fact that there was more going on than just, as one foreign correspondent in Manila put it indelicately, "a harebrained treasure hunt by a bunch of wacko rightwing dildos." Billions of dollars were at stake.
No matter what anyone else thought, Singlaub and his circle of American generals were absolutely convinced of the reality of Yamashita's Gold, enough to risk becoming targets of ridicule while they searched for it. Many of them had been in the CIA hierarchy since World War II, involved in shaping the postwar governments of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. In doing so they had employed the patrons of the Yakuza, and had become friends and fellow conspirators of the Kuromaku, Sasakawa and Kodama. Nobody was in a better position than these men to know about the loot Kodama had hidden. They had access to top-secret Japanese military archives, CIA archives, Pentagon archives, all of them beyond the reach of ordinary people, and the inside track on papers Ferdinand Marcos had left behind when he fled. For twenty years, they had used CIA assets to keep close track of Ferdinand's secret gold deals. At some point in the early 1970s, the CIA had become involved in those gold deals through Paul Helliwell's black-money conduits and the branches of Nugan-Hand Bank.
If the CIA did fly tons of gold out of Clark for President Marcos, some of these men were well informed and might even have approved the flights. If Marcos bullion was slipped out through Australia with the help of wealthy tycoons there, using Nugan-Hand channels, some of these men might have been among those at the CIA who authorized its movement. If the huge Marcos gold transactions of 1983 and 1984 were real, and were concluded, some of these men were in a position to know about it, and may have been the ones holding his feet to the fire as he got ready for his first kidney transplant. Singlaub had even been in touch with Dovie Beams's old adversary, Potenciano Ilusorio, now (thanks to President Marcos) a major stockholder in Benguet Exploration, a unit of Benguet Consolidated Mines. Singlaub was said to be helping a group of American executives who wanted to acquire Benguet. In New York, business reporters speculated among themselves that the acquisition was of interest to Allen & Company, who had a history of involvement with Benguet.
If none of these reports was true, why were a platoon of America's top generals back in the Philippines digging for Yamashita's Gold?
Curtis decided to throw his lot in with them-but his decision was short-lived. In the Philippines, newspapers soon were full of stories about Singlaub's searches. His men were excavating ten sites simultaneously, with extremely tight security provided by the Philippine military and the U.S. Special Forces. With the assistance of Curtis in pinpointing exact locations, they expected to hit the first major deposit of treasure "at any time." Many of the remaining sites were in areas controlled by the NPA, and contingency plans were in place, in case of a military confrontation. Nobody wanted the gold to fall into the wrong hands.
Despite all their preoccupation with tight security, Curtis became alarmed at the way General Singlaub himself attracted attention, alarmed at the very high profile of what was supposed to be an extremely secret operation. He was also a bit disturbed by some of the disclosures of the Iran-Contra hearings, which revealed a high incidence of bungling, dishonesty, and venality. In addition, he had discovered that his old enemies in the John Birch Society were sitting on the sidelines, waiting to turn Kodama's blood-soaked booty into a new holy war. Alarmed and disgusted, Curtis took his priceless maps and threatened to vanish once again, unless Singlaub and the other brass hats withdrew and left the excavation to the specialists.
Ferdinand Marcos also had not forgotten Yamashita's Gold. Far away in Honolulu, where he continued to plot his eventual return to power, he held long telephone conversations with men in the Virginia suburbs of Washington who claimed to be arms dealers. They taped the conversations and turned them over to Congress and the press. During the phone calls, Ferdinand said he would pay for the tanks and rockets he needed with thousands of tons of gold still hidden in the Philippines. How many tons, asked the phony arms dealer. Ferdinand whispered hoarsely, "Thousands." Why, in one place alone, he added, he had 4,000 tons of bullion stashed, worth over $40 billion.
Nobody knew where his bullion had gone. Before fleeing from Malacanang, Ferdinand had taken the trouble to have a barge haul away the gold he had stashed in the palace, and trucks haul away the bullion in the vaults beneath the warehouse and the bank. Nobody knew where the presidential yacht had taken its cargo-to Hong Kong, or to some intermediate point like Lubang or Fuga. As to the bullion hidden beneath the Bataan beach palace, some people suspected that it had been taken hurriedly across to Corregidor and hidden among the maze of tunnels on the island. just as a precaution, permission was obtained from the government of Cory Aquino to "renovate" the war memorial at Corregidor.
Although Marcos was obliged to live quietly under public scrutiny in Honolulu, there were other brief glimpses of hidden treasure; in mid-1988, frustrated by his exile, he was reported to have offered President Aquino $5 billion in cash to let him come home. As an opening ante it showed promise, but it fell far short of a serious bid.
Curtis got his wish. Singlaub and the other celebrity generals withdrew to let him dig away in secret beneath Fort Santiago. Hiding his real identity as much as possible, keeping to himself and shunning publicity, and working with a team of diggers provided by Cory Aquino, Curtis made gradual progress toward what he thought would be one of the big deposits of bullion hidden under the fort by Admirals Kodama and Iwabuchi. In March 1988, nearing their objective, the diggers hit a Japanese sand trap. Two workmen died. Curtis said the trap was one of those put in place to discourage recovery. The deaths brought the flare-up of publicity that Curtis had been trying to avoid, but after a few days it subsided as most people contented themselves with a snigger.
As Curtis and his excavators returned to work, they were joined by Olof Jonsson, back in the Philippines for the first time since 1975 to help Curtis pinpoint the trove.
In the national assembly, old supporters of Ferdinand Marcos threatened a complete investigation, and grumbled that Curtis was "destroying a national monument" to what, they did not say.
Imelda and Ferdinand were gone, but in paradise lost, you could still hear the serpent slither.
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