Professor Teerlinck is in prison for the murder of crooked chief Inspector Lauwers. Commisioner Flamant has been suspended pending the investigation and Chief Inspector Rabet is acting Commissioner. Annelies has decided to quit, and she is pregnant to boot. The drug lord Mark Desmedt is in prison with the Professor. Then the body of a river boat skipper is found. Apparently the man was a mule for a Moroccan drug cartel. 200 kilos of cocaine are missing. Grocer Adam Benali's DNA is found at the murder scene, making him John Van Humbeeck's prime suspect. Benali is definitely a drug dealer, but in trouble with the cartel for having lost his consignment. With him in jail - incidentally the same jail as the one where Desmedt and professor T are incarcerated - the cartel sends a clear message : they either get their coke back, or “bad things“ will happen to Benali's family. To prove their point, they drive over Benali's son Abi.