“It’s all happening,” I said, and gave it to them again from my side, filling in any details they might not have gotten from Church.

When I was done, my guys stared at me, at each other, and ultimately into the middle distance as seconds fell off the clock.

Top Sims was the first to speak. “Cap’n, I think I can speak for everyone when I say, what the fuck?”

“I hear you.” I looked at their faces. “Ask your questions.”

Lydia held up a hand. “Sir? Permission to return to reality.”

“Denied,” I said. “If I have to deal with this stuff then so do you.”

“Permission to shoot myself?” she asked hopefully.

“Let me get back to you on that.”

“Where the Christ do we start?” asked Bunny.

“Nukes,” suggested Khalid. “We have to start there. But … that’s problematic. I mean, do we have even a clue as to the players and their teams?”

“Lots of clues, but no idea where we stand with them,” I said.

Khalid shook his head. “Where does Rasouli fit into this? How does it make sense that he brings this to us?”

I shrugged. “Don’t know yet.”

“Whatever it means, he seems to be the only one on our side,” said Lydia. “Kind of makes me feel dirty.”

“Good dirty or bad dirty?” asked Bunny, which earned him a hard elbow in the ribs.

“Okay,” Top said slowly, “all of this is fascinating as shit, but who has the damn nukes?”

“We don’t know,” I admitted. “Though the Sabbatarians seem to think it’s the Upierczi.”

“Why the hell would vampires want nukes?” demanded Bunny. “I mean … they’re fucking vampires, right?”

“Guess they want to blow something up,” answered Top. “Same as anybody.”

I told them about the conversation I’d had with Hu and Church about the Upierczi and my still-in-the-development-stage doomsday theory.

“Right,” said Top, “Okay, I’m with Lydia now. I’d like to catch a cab back to the real world.”

Bunny shot him a sour look. “Which real world would that be, old man? This time last year we were shooting zombies.”

“Yeah,” Top conceded. “Fuck me.”

Chapter Eighty-one

Chapter Eighty-One

On the Road

Tehran, Iran

June 15, 9:59 p.m.

“That doesn’t answer the question of why these Upierczi want to blow up the oil fields,” said Khalid.

“No it doesn’t,” I agreed. “So when we get one of these pointy-toothed bastards in a corner, I want him kneecapped and cuffed and then we’re going to have a group therapy session with him, feel me?”

“Hooah,” they agreed.

“If Rasouli knows about the nukes,” asked Khalid, “isn’t this something the State Department and NATO should be handling?”

I said, “We are not in a position of trust. Rasouli came to us on the sly, and he clearly didn’t trust his own government.”

“Swell.”