Salamander

One weekend, a professional criminal gang tunnels into the Jonkhere Bank in Brussels. 66 of the 800 safes are opened, the rest remain untouched. The 66 owners are all top names from Belgium business world, courts, politics, unions, military, etc. What is baffling is that the robbers are only interested in the safe owners personal possessions and secrets. Fearing the greatest scandal in Belgian history, bank manager Jonkhere, the court and the 66 safe owners cover up the robbery. Nothing happened. But then insignificant Brussels detective Paul Gerardi is tipped off by a long-forgotten informant.

After his informant about the break-in at Jonkhere Bank and his friend have been murdered, Paul Gerardi realises he in a hornets nest. His house is being watched is he next? Paul's wife Sarah and daughter Sofie are scared to death, but Paul manages to escape. He discovers the secret of the safe burglary and the names of the 66 big-name victims. He now knows too much and has to run for his life. Meanwhile, Procurator-General Persigal and the Minister of Justice discuss how they can deal with Gerardi in order to save the country from an unprecedented scandal.

Paul Gerardi's former boss, ex-Chief of Police Martin Colla, provides Paul with a hiding place in the monastery that he had retired to for mysterious reasons, but steadfastly refuses to help Paul. It turns out he has a good reason for this. Paul's wife Sarah and daughter Sofie are now suffering permanent intimidation by colleagues of the Procurator-General, who is hunting for Paul. Paul ignores Sarah's pleas and discovers a trail leading to Senator Rasenberg, one of the 66 safe owners. They are all part of an interest group known as Salamander. The senator's wife gives the impression that she has designs on Paul.

After being betrayed by his friend and former Chief of Police Carl, Paul is discovered at the monastery and the net closes in around him. He now receives one blow after another. Meanwhile, the 66 victims of the bank break-in at Jonkhere receive envelopes with copies of the sensitive secrets they kept in their safes. The Minister of the Interior is first in line; he flees at once. Then it's Senator Rasenberg's turn, and he turns out to be involved in shady dealings involving a member of the royal family. The leaders of Salamander and banker Jonkhere realise that someone is trying to break up their group. But who, and why? Procurator-General Persigal is stuck in the middle he wants to protect the country, but he is also a member of Salamander.

After getting hold of Paul Gerardi, the Procurator-General can convince Paul to work for him and track down those responsible for the break-in at the Jonkhere bank, in total secrecy. His marriage suffers serious blows during the hunt. Senator Rasenberg's wife passes on all kinds of information to Paul as she is in love with him. As a member of Salamander, Rasenberg is on the brink of becoming Minister of the Interior after the suicide of the previous minister. The man behind the break-in and the opening of the 66 safes turns out to be a millionaire by the name of Wolfs. He wants to eliminate the members of Salamander one by one and, after the minister, senator Rasenberg is next on his list.

With the eager help of Karin Rasenberg, Paul Gerardi discovers that Salamander saved a member of the royal family from a sordid scandal. He is ordered to seduce the senator's wife in order to find out more, and this really puts his marriage in jeopardy. In the meantime, it becomes clear that the man behind the break-in, the millionaire Wolfs, bears the burden of a tragic past that goes back to the Second World War. The Salamander group has found out that Gerardi is closing in to safeguard the appointment of faithful Salamander member Rasenberg as minister, Paul will have to be eliminated.

After the murder of his wife, Sarah, instead of him, Paul recklessly throws himself into the hunt for Salamander. Sofie is sent to a boarding school and Paul sides with the Procurator-General, who now also wants to shake off his own Salamander past. Realising that Mrs Rasenberg has betrayed him, at the last minute Paul obstructs the senator's way to the king and his appointment as minister. Meanwhile, Klaus makes a mistake in the murder of his one-night stand and now has Paul on his tail. He can smell blood, and seeks out a confrontation.

The millionaire Wolfs, the man behind the break-in at the Jonkhere bank, now has Klaus send out envelopes containing incriminating material en masse to the 66 owners, who are all members of Salamander and occupy leading positions in Belgian society. One by one they resign, disappear or commit suicide. Strikes break out. A dark crisis threatens the state. Paul Gerardi takes his daughter to the boarding school. Here Sofie meets the grand-daughter of the millionaire Wolfs, who has been sent there as an unruly child. Meanwhile, it turns out that Salamander was a failed resistance mission during WWII. The fathers of both Wolfs and Jonkhere took part in the operation.

The royal palace sees the crisis getting out of hand and wants to make an example of someone, a head must roll. The Minister of Justice comes under so much pressure that he drops Procurator-General Persigal like a hot brick. Now Paul Gerardi must go on without protection. He starts to search for the Salamander resistance mission in military records, but all related documents have disappeared. Procurator-General Persigal resigns in order to warn the public of the Salamander conspiracy, but the organisation hits back and sends assassins after him and Gerardi.

With the struggle getting vicious and coming out into the open, Salamander plays its best card Vincent Noel, who has managed to become a personal aide to the prime minister. Procurator-General Persigal is outlawed and hunted down mercilessly. He still manages to pass on essential information to Paul Gerardi the origin of Salamander goes back to the Second World War and the fathers of Jonkhere and Wolfs. Meanwhile, Paul gets to know Wolf's daughter Patricia via the boarding school where he sent Sofie. Sofie and Paul are invited to the Wolf's castle. Without realising, Paul now faces the man who ordered the break-in at the Jonkhere bank, where it all began.

Unsuspectingly, Paul Gerardi finds himself staying at the home of the man who organised the break-in at the Jonkhere bank, the millionaire Wolfs. Being in love with Paul, Wolf's daughter Patricia invites him to spend the night. While there, Paul discovers photos of the WWII resistance group that lies at the heart of the origin of the Salamander group. He is close to unravelling the secret. But Wolfs don't fully trust Paul and has Klaus check up on him as they both fear, Paul turns out to be in the police and not the insurance agent he claimed to be.

Now that both Wolfs, the man behind the conspiracy, and Klaus, the man who carried out the break-in at the Jonkhere bank, know the true identity of Paul Gerardi, they fear the worst. When Klaus is denied permission to kill Paul and his daughter Sofie, he unexpectedly takes matters into his own hands in a way that will have catastrophic consequences. In the end, what happened between the fathers of Jonkhere and Wolfs after the failed WWII resistance operation Salamander becomes increasingly clear. The motive for Wolf's act of vengeance is finally discovered. Yet, at that very moment, the situation completely changes thanks to an even greater betrayal, and Paul and Wolfs have to fight for their lives.