Chapter 2

The attack on the apartment was a complete bust! Nobody was home, and it looked like the most recent resident had moved out. All that was left was some basic furniture and nothing else. We even checked the trash baskets in hope of finding some clue as to where to look next. Nothing! Oh, well, it was time to try a different tack.

Back to the computers we had snatched from our first raid on ISIL. There were some shipments to locations near Phoenix, so those were easy for us to check out. Maybe they would point us toward other targets. It looked to me like we really needed to find more ISIL members to question, but we did at least have a starting point.

Oops! Here's an oddity. Who ever heard of a place called "Honey Bee?" There was a shipment of 4,500 typewriter ribbons and 20 cases of cigar lighter flints. Now that was a weird shipment to go with the crazy location. It sounded to us that the typewriter ribbons were cartridges for an AK-47 and the flints were RPGs. The problem was that none of us had ever heard of Honey Bee, AZ, much less knew of where to find it.

Okay, time for a little research. I headed for the capitol building and the state equivalent of the tax assessor's office. I figured that if anybody had every heard of a town, it had to be somebody associated with taxes. The first couple of clerks I talked to didn't even know how to look it up, much less where the town was located.

Finally, I got to talk to the woman who was head of collecting property taxes. She couldn't place the town, either, but she did know where to look for any records on it. Aha! There it was! Honey Bee was a ghost town that was once a center for silver mining. In her words, "It was bought by some rich and crazy Easterner who moved to Arizona and wanted to turn the town into a tourist attraction. Well, he died before the project really got off the ground, and the property was bought by a conglomerate with the same crazy idea. We've collected a token tax from the conglomerate every year since then, but I have no idea what their current plans might be for the property."

She marked the location of the town on a duplicated portion of a map and gave it to me. There was a $5 charge for the service which I paid quite willingly. I knew that I would never have found the town without her help.

We were sitting in the family room discussing the best way to investigate Honey Bee when Liz let out a little squeal and ran for the nearest bathroom. She had just made it to the tile-covered floor when her water broke. Liz yelled for help, and we all came running. She told us what had happened, and we jumped to follow our prearranged plan of what to do when this happened. Fifteen minutes later, we were all loaded into the SUV and headed for the hospital.

Of course, we were all excited, but Liz kept trying to calm us down. She's had several long discussions with her gynecologist on this subject, and she thought she knew what to expect. Anyway, she was bundled off to a bed in the OB/GYN section of the hospital, and we were sent to a waiting room. The nurse in charge promised to call us as soon as Liz was situated.

We wound up waiting for an hour, but someone finally showed up—not the same nurse. "Mr. Brinkley, your wife is being taken to a delivery room, and she is asking for you to accompany her. I'm afraid that hospital rules say that no one under 18 years old is allowed in the delivery room, but your children can wait here. Please come with me."

Both kids thought this was a real bummer, but went along with the hospital rules. They knew that they would never be able to talk their way through to a rule change, so they both just sat down to wait. Fortunately, they both had something with them to keep them amused and/or distracted until they could visit Liz. Nevertheless, they did know that they were likely in for hours of waiting.

I got to the delivery room and donned the requisite protective clothing, though I never did understand who it was supposed to protect. I was headed toward the proper door when I heard a penetrating yell, "Jimmy, dammit, get your sorry ass in here this minute!" Yes, that was my darling wife requesting my presence.

The point of all that was that Johnny was already presenting himself at the doorway of the real world. His head exited Liz's vagina just as I was able to grasp her hand. Later, I was told that this was one of the most rapid births that the hospital had ever experienced. The remarkable thing was that Liz had felt no pain during the course of the delivery.

There was some delay in placing Johnny in Liz's arms because the doctor was having a serious problem in circumcising the baby. Nothing would cut through the foreskin, though there had been no difficulty in cutting the umbilical cord. Anyway, the doctor gratefully gave up her impossible task when Liz and I both told her to forget it.

Johnny was wiped down and shown to Liz and to me before he was rushed off to somewhere for some extra things that they routinely did. Meanwhile, Liz was cleaned up and taken to a room to wait for Johnny. She had to wait a bit longer than usual, but a nurse finally showed up with him, and he was given to Liz to hold. She held Johnny for a few minutes and then handed him to me.

My God, what did I know about holding a baby? Janice had not wanted me to touch either Billy or Mary when they were born, so Johnny was the first baby handed to me. Well, I carefully followed directions on what to do, but I was very happy to return him to Liz as soon as I reasonably could. I did make the appropriate noises and say the appropriate things during all of this, so I did not embarrass anybody, but I was happy when the ordeal was over.

Very shortly thereafter, Billy and Mary were escorted to the room to see their new brother, and both were suitably polite. It was obvious to me that neither one knew what they were supposed to say, but they were truly happy to see the newest member of our family. We spent all of the allowed time with Liz, but we were eventually sent home with instructions on when we could return to the hospital.

That evening, Liz's doctor called me to apologize for not circumcising Johnny. "I cannot imagine why I was not able to remove his foreskin, but the special cutting tool would not penetrate his skin. It's not too late to do the job, but I would recommend that you forget it unless there are religious reasons for insisting that the baby be circumcised."

"That's okay, Dr. Smithson. We'll forget it. Actually, neither Liz nor I care one way or the other. We were just following custom. I'm sure that it will never make any difference to any of us, so let's just drop the idea."

"Thank you, Mr. Brinkley. That makes life a lot simpler for all of us. I may see you in the hospital tomorrow. Mrs. Brinkley's delivery went so smoothly that I am sure that she will be discharged tomorrow afternoon. That is current hospital policy when there are no complications. Good bye for now."

The next morning in the hospital, Liz said that she was ready to go home. She maintained that she was feeling great and didn't see why she had to ride to the car in a wheelchair. The nurse said that there were a few minor tests left to run, but she would probably be discharged shortly after lunch. Liz agreed to that, but I could see that she was already tired of the hospital.

Dr. Smithson came in while the kids and I were there, and she had some news for us that had her somewhat upset. She reported that there were some routine blood tests that should be run on Johnny before he was discharged, but they could not get a needle to penetrate his skin. Uh-oh, that told us where Johnny was in the development of his superhuman characteristics. I suggested that we postpone the tests for a few days, and we would have them done within a week or so. She was dubious, but couldn't argue with me if I had already made up my mind. She left, shaking her head.

Both Liz and I were worried about what might happen if we let the medical people try to circumcise or draw blood from Johnny. They would discover that his skin could not be penetrated, and would insist on running tests to find out why. Anyway, all of that would certainly do Johnny no good, so our best bet was to escape the clutches of the medical profession as soon as possible. We finally got Liz into our SUV and on the way home before any more questions were raised, but I could see trouble on the way.