Gerardi is finally persuaded by Persigal to join the elite P9 agency with instructions to discover who is behind the break-in at the Jonkhere bank. The Salamander organisation suffers a blow with the suicide of the Minister of Interior, but they are soon lining up their forces behind Senator Guy Rasenberg to stand as his successor.

Knowing that he was the intended victim of the car bomb which killed his wife, Gerardi follows the only lead he has – Karin Rasenberg who, now reconciled with her husband, prepares for his swearing in as Minister of the Interior.