When Detective Sergeant Bill Kunkel blacks out in the gallery where he's investigating an art theft, it's the first clue that this is no ordinary burglary. Kunkel and his partner, Detective Kathy Thompson, soon plunge into a near-future underground in pursuit of a mad genius. Their quarry is Stephen Carter, a brilliant researcher bent on exacting revenge from the corporation that betrayed him. Carter has unlocked a gateway to an alternate universe. His shadowy "partners" have ideas of their own for Carter’s dimension--and will kill to possess its secrets for themselves. For Kunkel and Kathy to get their man, they'll have to confront reawakened demons from their pasts, form an unlikely alliance with a computer criminal, navigate the mean streets of Southern California's Special Economic Zone and the near-orbit hub of New Chicago, deal with their hidden feelings for each other--and discover why each of Kunkel's recurring blackouts coincide with each of Carter's thefts.