These excerpts follow the archaeologist Annja Creed as she is drawn into an international conflict revolving around a stolen religious relic—a casket containing ancient holy bones—that multiple factions believe possess powerful or dangerous properties. The initial setting is a cruise ship, the Ocean Venture, where Annja is blackmailed by the immortal Garin Braden into serving as his associate during a hijacking that is later revealed to be a cover for the theft of the relic by hired mercenaries. The narrative quickly shifts to Annja's attempts to track and recover the artifact, which leads her to Panama and then to a remote island, where she encounters two major warring groups: the Knights of the Risen Savior and the forces of Sultan Wira of Rimba Perak, as well as pirates led by Eddie Cao Cao. The conflict culminates in a massive naval battle against the pirate fleet, where Annja aids Sultan Wira in recovering the coffin, only for it to be deliberately destroyed to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. The excerpts also highlight Annja's burgeoning emotional connection with the Sultan and her constant struggle to maintain a secret identity despite her high-profile adventures and her job as a TV personality on Chasing History’s Monsters.