It's night time in Vienna and a hooded monk is seen walking across a city square. Interesting, especially to the man watching him from a car. The monk, later to be identified as Hanusch, reaches his target and looks around to see if he has been followed. When all seems clear, he opens a heavy wooden door, not realising that someone is waiting around the corner, ultimately following him in.
Hanusch heads down into what appear to be catacombs, with neat piles of skulls, other bones and a skelton in a coffin. Disrobing, Hanusch then climbs into a smaller chamber where he sets up his laptop and uses a scanner. It appears he's trying to detect something in the wall. Meanwhile the other guy has caught up with him and, under gunpoint, orders him to stop scanning. They obviously know each other. Hanusch is surprised that the other guy has been trailing him for two days. A fight and a chase ensue and, before long, the second guy is dead.
His body is found in what looks to be a grit box (for snow?) the next morning. With no papers on him, the body cannot be identified until Kunz sees the body. Shocked, he reveals the man to be Walz, a former colleague from Robbery. It turns out Walz was suspended from duty. He had been shot in an earlier robbery, a robbery that involved Hanusch, alternatively known as 'The Mole'. Walz had exprienced problems, feeling he'd failed to prevent the robbery and had taken to drinking. Hanusch, imprisoned, escaped during a relocation exercise and sought refuge in Brazil. Hanusch had apparently been declared dead a few months previously. Of course, we know differently.
Meanwhile Hanusch is checking out of Hotel Kummer. Soon after another guest, Mendes, checks in to room 121. The facial fuzz is fake. Mendes appears to be Hanusch again, although I admit to being a little confused by this part. In his hotel room, Hanusch takes a call from his girlfriend, who sings a self-composed song to him. He seems less than impressed. Me also. When asked what's wrong, he's evasive. The girlfriend is obviously looking forward to joining him in Brazil. Her room is decorated with posters of Rio.
Brandtner is told by Graf that the bullets used to kill Walz were quite unusual and when Brandtner talks to Walz's colleague from Robbery, he finds out the kind of guns using these bullets were stolen recently from a gunshop. Unfortunately little other detail is available.
Kunz and Boeck head off to check out Walz's flat. Walz's flat has been ransacked and his car is missing. Someone has obviously been looking for something. Suddenly, Walz's recent activities become of interest.
In the catacombs, Hanusch is searching again but gets interrupted by a crowd of pesky tourists. When he disturbs a bone on the pile, his presence is revealed to a boy in the crowd. Lucky for Hanusch, the tour guide blows off the boys claims of someone present as imagination and Hanusch escapes. Back in disguise as Mendes, Hanusch visits Bank Austria, checking out security cameras. For some reason, he feels underneath the counter shelf. Strange behaviour.
Brandtner is calling in help from his informants. He wants information on who robbed the gun shop and is directed to Harald Schmoll, an electrician in the Rohrergasse.
Back in the catacombs again, Hanusch is wiring up an explosive device. Seems he's found what he was looking for but it's not stolen loot as might be expected. Instead, it's another passage.
Later on, his girlfriend is again singing him Brazillian type music. Dreary stuff. I'm certainly glad that it didn't make the Rex soundtrack.Hanusch is talking to her about a bank..seems like he has plans to hit the bank he robbed previously. See? In Rex, even the crime scenes get recycled.
Walz's car has been located and Rex is able to trace a scent from the car to the catacombs entrance. What a dog! With blood and a bullet on the floor, it seems the team have found the crime scene.
When Brandtner and Rex head off to see Schmoll about the gun theft, they have to break into the premises. No one is there. Rex sniffs out a dodgy tv, revealking hidden guns. Of course, Schmoll chooses this moment to return. Brandtner is about to grab him when his mobile rings , alerts Schmoll and allows him to escape. It's only momentary though. True to form, Rex rounds him up. Schmoll maintains no involvement in the murder but admits to selling someone a gun. He has no idea who the buyer is though.
Another bullet has been found. Fingerprints are checked and are revealed to be those of Hanusch. Obviously he's not dead and what's more the fingerprints are fresh. An airline ticket for Brazil is also found in the car. The team are confused. Why would he risk returning? Family reasons perhaps? His mother is in a residential home and Brandtner pays a visit. It appears he's only just missed Hanusch, until the mother says he's still visiting and has just gone to get her a drink. While they wait for his return, the mother talks about his girlfriend Claudia who no longer visits. When the mother thinks Rex is a dachsund, Brandtner cottons on that a few marbles might be loose and he's waiting for nothing.
Hanusch is lurking outside Austria Bank in his alternate form, as Mendes. Just as well because Hanusch has made the front page of the newspaper. Going into the bank, he plants a device under a counter and then leaves.
Brandtner is still trying to work out who Claudia is. A phone number on the plane ticket found looks promising but ultimately produces nothing.
In the catacombs Hanusch is drilling a small hole in the wall.
When the action moves to Claudia, it suddenly becomes apparent that her room is in a prison. When she's given her food, she throws it at the officer. She's then made to clean it up in the kitchen. It's all a ruse though. The food isn't quite that bad, it's just she has an ulterior motive.
The receptionist in the Hotel Kummer notices that the fax of Hanusch looks like her guest Mendes and calls Brandtner. Hanusch overhears and returns to grab essentials from his room. He marks some spot on a map and then throws it in the bin. Most likely a red herring with which to lead Brandtner astray. Dressed as a painter he manages to get out just as Brandtner arrives. Of course, Brandtner and Boeck pull out the map and are diverted to the marked spot - the bank which Hanusch robbed previously, the bank where he planted his device earlier.
In the bank, Hanusch's device is dripping water, releasing little balls that set off the alarms. It looks as if a robbery is in progress. Good distraction for Hanusch's real purpose.
Washing up in the prison kitchen is obviously an explosive affair. Hanusch's girlfriend is anxiously watching the clock. 6pm sharp, kaboom. Hanusch blows the wall of the prison kitchen out and the girlfriend is free. Ah, love not money, how sweet. Stupidly they stop for a cuddle instead of making good their escape because on the other side of the wall are now Brandtner and Boeck and they discover the escape route immediately.
Rex is straight on to it, chasing through the catacombs. When Claudia falls over, the gap narrows and, before you know it, Rex has them both. Good old Rex.
Other players include Max Tidof as Hanusch and Jenny Deimling as Claudia.
Recycled Rexers include William Mang as Walz, also in 'Baby Rex - der kleine Kommissar' and the late Gusti Wolf, here as Hanusch's mother, earlier as Johanna Gebauer in 'Der Tod der alten Dame'.
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