effects of the intense heat, but were nonetheless unharmed by the flames.

Inside the vehicle, Flanagan, an officer on his first patrol captured the event on video and sent the feed back to headquarters. Duvall, the officer in charge of the unit, was on the radio.

"Did you copy that?"

A voice over the radio spoke back. "Affirmative, Unit 13."

"We'll let `em burn for a few more minutes, then take a body count. We'll also let the looters sweat it out another minute or two. Verify the location."

"2247 West 6^th. In the alley behind the store. We got you on the big board."

"Affirmative."

The truck slowly moved up the alley and pulled to a stop near the overwhelmed robbers and the burning bodies scattered about.

The Vampire Annihilation Methods Project was headquartered in an old office building on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Wilshire Boulevard, which runs all the way from downtown to the Pacific Ocean, begins at the building's front door. VAMP headquarters was a fortress. The glass on the first ten floors of the building had been covered with either bricks or steel plates. The entrance was heavily guarded at all times and the streets surrounding the building were cyclone-fenced off. There was no way for unauthorized personnel to get near the building's access points.

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