Chapter 5

The other shoe dropped the next afternoon about 3:30. The doorbell rang and I happened to be the closest to it so I answered the door. When I opened the door, I saw a man in a spectacularly fashionable suit standing there with a briefcase in one hand. I describe the suit that way because it immediately struck me that the suit must have cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500. The briefcase was one of those hard sided executive models and was covered in some sort of exotic animal skin. My immediate reaction was that this man was either fabulously rich or in some sort of costume.

For a moment, all I could do was to stare in incredulity, but I quickly woke up and said, "Yes, Sir, what may I do for you?"

The man said, "Well, the first thing you can do for me, Mr. Brinkley, is to invite me in out of the sun. This suit was never made to face this kind of hot weather."

Hot weather!? My God, it was only 85° F, and any Arizonian would consider that pleasantly cool! Nevertheless, I did invite the man into the air conditioned house. We usually kept the air inside what most of our friends considered a "damned cold" 70°. As soon as he stepped inside, the man visibly relaxed. "Ah, this is a hell of a lot better. Thank you very much. My name is Ralph Wilson, and I have been sent here to discuss with you your recent activities in relation to the recent ISIL menace. May I sit down, if you please, as I have some things to show you, and our discussion could take some time?"

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Wilson. I'm afraid that I was exhibiting my well known country bumpkin personality. Your appearance totally surprised me because one does not normally see men dressed as you are in Phoenix, AZ. Please follow me. I don't have a home office, as such, but we should be comfortable in our family room. There is a table there which we can use as a desk if that is appropriate."

"Excellent, Mr. Brinkley, and please address me as Ralph. May I call you Jimmy?"

"Certainly, Ralph. I always feel better when people call me Jimmy. 'Mr. Brinkley' sounds to me like I am being addressed by a traffic cop." I smiled at that, and Ralph responded in kind.

I had Ralph sit in one of the overstuffed recliners and I chose another one facing him. "Would you care for something to drink? I can offer you water, ice tea, a variety of soft drinks, or coffee. I don't keep liquor in the house."

"Thank you, but I am fine for now, though I may need something later if we do talk as much as I hope to.

Liz walked in and was introduced to Ralph. She asked him about a cooling drink, but he again declined. "Mrs. Brinkley, perhaps you would like to join us? What I have to say does affect you as well as Jimmy, and your children, too, to some extent. I assume that they are not yet home from school. They should also hear this, as they are directly involved. I had thought that they would be home by now, since school normally lets out at 2:30. When do you expect them?"

"They should be home pretty soon. Billy normally drives his girlfriend home after school, and they usually talk for a little while before he comes home. Mary is fiercely independent and rides the bus with her friends. That means that they usually show up by 4:00."

She had hardly finished talking when there was a noise at the front door and Mary came in with her usual exuberance. She was called in and introduced to Ralph. Billy showed up a few minutes later, and he too was introduced to our visitor.

Ralph said, "Ah, now that you are all here, I can explain why I have made this call. I am employed by a firm which does a lot of contract work for the Federal Government, mainly directed toward national security. I have been sent to ask if you four would be interested in joining our team. We know that you have been doing a lot of freelance work. Let me show you how we know that."

Ralph opened his briefcase and removed several large photographs. The first three showed us attacking the camp at Honey Bee. Another one showed Mary and me firing RPGs at the most recent warehouse episode. A couple of others showed me in solo operations. We were all shown quite clearly, and there was no doubt that we were the people in the photos.

"We would have contacted you sooner, but you have done such a good job of hiding your identities that we had to resort to facial recognition software and a lot of computer time to make a positive identification. One of the first things that my superiors wanted me to do was to congratulate you on the excellent job. Most of our people would not have been able to duplicate your work, even with all of the firm's facilities behind them. Had you not done all of your work in and around Phoenix, we would probably still be hunting you. That is something you might keep in mind.

"As you have undoubtedly determined on your own, the ISIL people have a real and abiding hatred for America and all that we stand for. They have committed themselves to bringing us down, and you have been of considerable help already in thwarting some of their most ambitious efforts.

"Basically, what I am here to do is to offer you, Jimmy, and your family, an opportunity to join us in driving ISIL out of North America. Yes, they are active in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean Islands, but nothing like their efforts in America. We are not offering you regular employment in our firm, but more as contract agents for certain specific jobs with the payment to be negotiated as appropriate. In addition to these specific assignments, you would have access to our very extensive intelligence and logistical help.

"For example, we know that you picked up some RPGs and hand grenades for future use during your raid on that most recent warehouse. Well, such a risky action would no longer be required because we can supply you with any of the most sophisticated weapons and supplies that you could possibly imagine just for the asking."

I said, "Okay, Ralph, all of that sounds wonderful, but what would it take for us to back out if we decide that we no longer wish to work with your outfit?"

"We have done an extensive psychological profile on each of you, and we believe that we can trust you not to disclose any secrets that you acquire while working with us. Therefore, we believe that a simple statement in writing from you that you wish to terminate your association with us will be sufficient. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes, I think so, but there is one more complication. You must know that we have a young son who is less than a year old. What will we do with him if we take on an assignment needing all four of us. We certainly do not want to put him in any danger."

"We have both a day care service and an extended care facility which could take care of Johnny at any time. We can even pick him up and return him so that you do not have to travel to our facility. That way, you would not tip off to the enemy that you were about to undertake an assignment."

"Okay, that sounds good. Of course, we will have to discuss this among ourselves in considerable detail before we can give you a definitive answer. How long do we have to make up our minds?"

"You have as long as it takes. At this point, I am the only one you know from our end of the agreement. You don't even know the name of the firm I represent. Therefore, we are in a hurry only because we have several assignments just waiting for someone of your peculiar skills and abilities. We would like a quick answer, but we also understand that this is a big decision for you. Take as long as you need to come to a decision, but please don't dawdle."

"That part is agreeable, but can you give us some idea of exactly what sort of assignment we would be taking on?"

"Certainly, but you must understand that our discussion at this time is purely hypothetical. One of our most important jobs involves assassination. For example, if we could locate the identity and location of the leader of the American ISIL operations, would you be willing to eliminate him?"