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An ancient Egyptian burial mask is stolen from a museum in Egypt. Who took it? Where is it? And is it really the mask of Queen Nefertiti?
The trail leads to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where other artifacts, stolen from Egypt centuries earlier by the Knights Templar, are believed to be concealed in hidden passageways of historic homes.
Three fraudsters and a team of investigators cross paths in St. Croix. The convicted Ponzi fraudster Dick Rivinoff, the expert art forger Hans Richter, and the mysterious entrepreneur Tasha Khoury are deep into a scheme involving the Nefertiti mask. The investigators from the Specialty Security Consultants company -- Erika Broussard, Marcia Pola, Claudia Hunter and Cher Locklear -- work with archaeologist Professor Harry Ward to discover the treasure of the Knights Templar, and find themselves accidentally entangled in the Nefertiti mask theft.
Complicating their investigation is a new financial fraud scheme by Rivinoff, who had already cheated the parents of Claudia and her sister Beth out of their life savings. Claudia is determined to catch Rivinoff red-handed and have him arrested again. The players on both sides of the law know that there is risk involved in what they are doing, but none of them were expecting an assassination.
In the United States, Tasha Khoury's associates are busy preparing the startup of her latest venture, a line of Egyptian-themed cosmetics. They try to poach a chemist from another company.
When the SSC women return to their homes in San Francisco, there is an armed robbery attempt in Claudia's home and she is nearly killed. The thief was after an Egyptian artifact in the house. Dame Kate Maugham, a well-known, eccentric entertainer who is a friend of the SSC women, is on her way to an engagement in Las Vegas. Dame Kate has her own Egyptian artifact, a bejeweled golden cat collar; she too is the victim of an armed robbery attempt. After comparing notes, the SSC women and Dame Kate decide to combine forces to see who is behind the attempted thefts.
Hans Richter, who has become suspicious of the SSC women and alarmed by their involvement in the Nefertiti mask case, decides to try to infiltrate the group by romancing Beth Hunter, the only one who has not yet seen him in person.
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