Myers gave a quick series of orders to the waiting agents, about coordinating with the military and local law enforcement, making sure that the given cover stories were consistent, sending out plainclothes agents as witnesses to speak to the media, cleaning up anything that looked paranormal, and placing fake evidence to back up their cover stories. “Martinez, gather up some actors and go give the news some firsthand accounts of this terrorist attack. Nothing too detailed yet though. Remember, good and emotional. They’ll always run with tears and babbling. Barber, contact Technical Branch. Anything floating around the internet, crash it. As big as that dragon was there’s got to be video and I want it scrubbed. Pick the worst virus we have and turn it loose.”

It was like watching a symphony conductor.

“Tobler, where’s my body count? How many corpses are we talking about? And how many wounded?” Myers paused when he was handed a tablet. He quickly scanned it and then swore at the rather large tally. “We’ve got a lot of eyewitness duty on this one . . .”

The men groaned as Myers began handing out more assignments. Intimidating the witnesses into silence was the duty that most agents dreaded. Franks didn’t really grasp why. It was simply another part of their mission. The Monster Control Bureau’s primary responsibility was to keep the existence of monsters secret from the general public. That was their founding principle. It was necessary, but most agents didn’t like threatening innocent monster attack survivors. Humans were soft like that.

On the other hand, Franks didn’t mind a bit. “Orders?”

Myers handed the tablet back. “Walk with me, Franks.”

The two of them went outside.

Dozens of cars had been thrown about, flipped, and crushed. There was a huge hole in the pavement where the Nachtmar had burrowed through. Most of the fires were contained, but Diamond Steve’s Hotel and Casino was burning out of control. The Last Dragon complex was a crumbling ruin, having been ravaged by fire, improvised explosives, a nightmare army, and several hundred desperate Monster Hunters. This event had begun simply enough, with a medical quarantine of a casino, but had quickly spread out of control, with a paranormal rift forcing the evacuation of the entire city. It had all culminated with a nightmare dragon wrecking its way up and down the Las Vegas Strip.

However, Dwayne Myers was the greatest propaganda artist that the MCB had ever seen, and if anyone could contain this, it was him. Franks’ superior surveyed the scene for a long moment. “Yes . . . It’ll be a challenge, but I can work with this . . .”

“Of course, sir.”

“I’ll have to do it without your capable help though. I need you to do something else. Stricken has made his move.”

“Nemesis?”