Claudia is the girlfriend of Martin, a go-kart racer and mechanic. She's spent the evening watching who racing. Martin's disheartened because he's been beaten by a competitor, Sasha. When Claudia leaves to go to work, she's attacked by loan collector. Money is owed by her boyfriend to loan shark Baumann and he cannot pay. As Claudia is the guarantor on the loan, she's up for paying in more ways then one, with the loan collector hitting her to reinforce his threat of what might happen if payment is not forthcoming.
Martin races out as the loan collector drives off, yelling death threats directed both at him and Baumann.
Across town, Baumann is sitting in his office, gun on his desk. Someone comes in who he appears to recognise, picks up the gun off his desk and shoots him. The corpse is discovered by his secretary the next morning. The murder scene has been arranged to look like suicide. Graf soon has it puzzled out. The dead man is holding something in his right hand. He couldn't therefore have shot himself as it is made to appear. An interesting fact for those interested in neurology, the item wasn't dropped because the bullet passed through the cerebellum of the brain, effectively freezing the position of the victim. Being a loan shark, it's a dead cert (no pun intended!) that the perpetrator was most likely a client.
A brief interlude, which becomes important later in the story, shows Boeck and Kunz on the firing range. Boeck achieves a perfect score but Kollege Kunz, while making a good start, is stopped dead in his tracks when one of the target figures appears to be drawing a gun. If the situation had been real, Kunz would have been dead. He'd previously almost shot someone who wasn't armed. It's a problem, obviously.
Martin is getting some pressure from Claudia. Their plans involve settling, having a family but she can't see it happening while he's involved in go-karting. Martin's colleague Joe Meixner is back from racing in the East. Turns out the go-karts are a front, distracting customs officials while the real business seems to be about smuggling something - not made clear at this point.
The debt collector is at work again. This time he's threatening a mother out shopping with her child. He tries to take her car keys. He doesn't count on Boeck and Kunz turning up though. Ever the gentlemen, they take his details and then take the woman shopping for groceries. Brandtner is over talking to Martin. Of course he can't resist a quick drive himself before asking Martin about Baumann. Martin's boss comes over. He's a little worked up that Brandtner is asking questions. Interestingly, he starts stressing Baumann's history of depression and medication, pushing the suicide angle.
Martin and Claudia head for a tryst in a campervan back at Martin's workplace. Passion is interrupted when Martin discovers a pile of money under the mattress. Money laundering by his boss Nemec and Meixner perhaps?
Kunz finds out from the debt collector that Baumann had financed the go-kart place for Nemec to a tune of 20 million. Brandtner and team are clued up enough about go-kart racing to know it would be very difficult to pay off that kind of money. Nemec also has several fat bank accounts. Nemec has an alibi set up for the murder time with Meixner though. Brandtner notices a trophy that indicates that Meixner might not even have been in Vienna though. He puts Boeck on the case. It's not long before his alibi crashes.
When Martin is offered a kart for purchase, he breaks into the campervan and thinks about taking the money. He's surprised by Meixner who beats and ties him up. His absence is noticed when Claudia rings the go-kart stadium looking for him. She wants to tell him she's pregnant. She's wary that something is up and returns to the van, finding him. Of course, she gets surprised by Meixner, Martin is shot and the pair are locked up.
Brandtner returns to the racing track, Rex is sent outside to wait. He hears Claudia's screams and sets out to alert Brandtner. Freeing them up, Brandtner asks them to call for assistnace. Meanwhile Meixner and Nemec are in the hall finalising their money exchange. Brandtner is outnumbered but turns out the lights. When Meixner comes out to sort out the problem, Brandtner challenges him but he escapes. Brandtner then finds himself under fire from all directions as the team arrive. In the shoot out, Boeck nearly buys it, about to be shot by Meixner when Kunz shoots Meixner. Kunz as hero, knotted hankie and all. I like it.
Other players include Mavie Hoerbiger as Claudia, Dietmar Moessmer, not credited with IMDB for this episode, and Guenther Panak as Baumann.
Recycled Rexers include Xaver Hutter, as Martin, uncredited with IMDB for this episode but also appearing as Andi Kraus in 'Vitamine zum Sterben' (2003), Georg Prokop, uncredited for this episode but also appearing as Gasser Jr. in 'Todesrennen' (1996), Johannes Krisch, a personal favourite, uncredited for this episode but also appearing as Josef Nowak in 'Ein moerderischer Plan' (1998) and as Marco Kolb in 'Strahlen der Rache' (2001).
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