They are called designer drugs, and they're worse than lethal—they're legal. A beautiful undercover agent and her partner are brutally murdered in Southern California. A special task force of highly trained police officers go underground to find out why. What they discover is a billion-dollar criminal conspiracy—and an elusive mastermind known as the Alchemist. The Alchemist is a respected chemist who has conjured up a substance worth its weight in a synthetic "designer" drug as potent as cocaine or heroin and twice as dangerous—because its unique chemical formula is perfectly legal! Caught in the crossfire between a desperate Mafia chief and two ruthless drug lords, the task force must step outside the law to crush the impending crime war, risking being lured so far out from behind the protection of their badges that there is no turning back.