“Nope, that’s it. We just deliver. We have to get these ambulances back to where we…uh…borrowed them from. You following me, mate?” At the stupid look on Jack’s face, Trumble said, “There’s a crisis here in town, the ambulances are needed, and we stole them. Now, are you getting it?”

“Yeah, yeah. So are the nurses inside? They have it under control, right?” asked Jack.

“Not exactly, mate. Like I said, there is a crisis here. That means when all the power went out, we weren’t able to arrange a pickup of the nurses. We’re damn lucky we got the babies. They’re all safe, and now they’re your responsibility. No more time for chitchat, mate. See you in the funny papers.”

Jack’s jaw dropped as he watched first one ambulance, then the ones behind it, peel away. “Oh, shit!” He ran as fast as he could to Maggie’s front door, where the boys were waiting for him.

There was panic in Harry’s voice when he said, “I don’t see any nurses, Jack. Where in the damn hell are the nurses?”

“So you’re going to blame me for that, too! That schmuck in the lead ambulance said they just deliver. He kept saying there was a crisis and didn’t we know it. They stole those ambulances, and now they have to take them back. Open the damn door already, Ted!”

Once Ted got the door open, the men dashed inside the house and skidded to a stop when they stared into Maggie’s living room. Row after row of babies of indeterminate age were laid out, tied in bundles like papooses. All but one were wailing at the top of their lungs. Jack wanted to sit down and cry. Ted just gaped and chewed on his lip. Harry, Jack could tell, was somewhere in outer space.

Espinosa, however, was grinning from ear to ear. “I think I probably qualify as the person with the most experience where babies are concerned. I grew up in a family of eleven kids. I had to change diapers, bathe, and feed the little ones. So, for starters, let’s get the heat turned way up, square away the diaper supply and the food, which in their case is formula since we have no breast-feeding surrogates in attendance.”

Jack reached for Harry when it looked like he was going to black out. “Okay, Espinosa, you are officially in charge. Tell us what to do. How the hell do you get them to shut up?” he bellowed at the top of his lungs.

“You feed them!” Espinosa yelled. “We’ll heat the bottles in the microwave. I think you can do that if you take the nipples off the bottles.”

“You THINK!” Jack bellowed again. The babies continued to squall, even the one who had been previously quiet. “Their faces are red. What’s wrong with them?”