His fishing trip blown out of the water by an exploding Ferrari, Cnut is faced with having to try to bring to justice Henrik Lund, whose public face is that of a respected entrepreneur and government minister, but whose private life includes every crime in the book, from paedophilia to murder. Hanna Auge, whose teenage daughter was raped and murdered, is positive that Lund was the rapist and killer, and Cnut is swayed enough by her conviction to re-investigate the case, but Colonel Olssen, Cnut's long-time friend, and head of the Secret Service, warns Cnut to refrain from investigating Lund too deeply. He has men undercover in Lund's organisation, who have found out that Lund intends a coup to take over the country, and does not want Lund spooked, effectively tying Cnut's hands, but when Ilse is kidnapped by Lund's men, all bets are off.