New York City is on high alert for a serial killer--a strange kind of thief who stalks his victims for the purpose of extracting a vial of blood, earning him the tabloid nickname "the Vampire." As the attacks escalate to torture and then to murder, Jake and Manny begin to suspect there is a connection between the killer's seemingly random victims. But how do they link it to a case that Manny's been working for a kid whose high school prank-gone-wrong has earned him the moniker the Preppy Terrorist? They soon discover that their case is a tragic tale of corruption interlaced with cover-ups, conspiracies, death squads, and dictators who committed crimes that to this day go unpunished.