One rogue doctor has dared to unlock the power of one of the most potent substances ever swirled inside a test tube - and stands on the verge of cracking the code of nothing less than the legendary fountain of youth. A world-class collegiate swimmer breaks a record at the women's U.S. Olympic trials, then seconds later succumbs to a sudden, violent seizure. A brilliant, maverick molecular biologist stumbles onto a drug that can both enhance athletic performance and accelerate the average life-span past every imaginable barrier, until death cuts his experiment brutally short. There is a hidden but devastatingly real link between the two tragedies. Few see the connection, until the expanding and shocking web of fatalities draws in research pathologist Dr. Henry Bales. "Bales, dedicated to answering questions inside the safe confines of a lab, now tackles a mystery in the dangerous, unscientific world of unchecked greed and power. To assist him he enlists several allies, including a rival scientist of exotic good looks and penetrating mind, and a certain local bounty hunter who brings a welcome battery of battle-tested street smarts to the rarefied realm of high thinkers and earthshakers. Together they must penetrate a conspiracy that stretches from the high, open training fields of Denver to the cramped, darkened gyms of Cuba. Dr. Henry Bales and an old friend from his Vietnam days, CJ Floyd, must work together to solve this mystery.