08. Firewall

2 parts of 85 minutes each - First broadcast: 14.01.2007 

Part 1: Wallander has been feeling physically worse and worse lately. Just when his full strength and attention are needed, an explosive case of international proportions lands on his desk. Concrete evidence suggests that a terrorist attack in Sweden is imminent. A trail leads to Africa, more precisely to Angola, where an unknown mastermind is planning his actions via the Internet. The situation is exacerbated when a murder takes place in Ystad and this trail also seems to lead to Africa. Wallander wonders where the connection between the crime and the feared attack lies. "Diabetes" is the diagnosis that Wallander reluctantly receives from his doctor. He is told to take high doses of medication and finally change his diet. However, Wallander ignores the problem and rushes to the crime scene. Apparently a cab driver has been murdered. The driver's seat is covered in blood and two young girls, Sonja and Eva, claim to have killed the driver. But they refuse to say where the body can be found. It doesn't take long for Wallander to persuade Sonja to reveal the hiding place of the body. At the location in the forest, Wallander suffers a brief attack of weakness. Sonja seizes this moment and escapes. Almost at the same time, Tynnes Falk collapses dead in front of an ATM in Ystad. It turns out that Falk came to the ATM every morning at 9 a.m., but strangely enough he did not make any traceable transactions. In Africa, a white hospital doctor hires a killer. This killer turns up in Ystad shortly afterwards and sets off in search of the girls from the cab. Wallander and his colleagues first find out that Sonja chatted a lot with a friend who communicated with her under the pseudonym "Binkabi", and that the dead man from the ATM was an extremely capable computer programmer. While Wallander is familiarizing himself with what for him is the uncharted territory of virtual computer reality, there is a total blackout in Ystad. When the team arrives at the central power station, they find Sonja's burnt body on a pylon. In the pathology department, Wal- lander learns that Falk died of African dengue fever. The idea to investigate this came to the colleagues because the dead man had the word "Binkabi" tattooed on his arm. What does the cipher "Binkabi" mean?

Part 2: Detective Kurt Wallander and his team find out that Falk, the dead man at the ATM, had a second apartment in Ystad. As Wallander searches for new clues there, he is threatened by an African killer. Only the appearance of Wallander's colleagues can prevent worse. The African manages to escape. A computer is confiscated from the apartment, on which strange combinations of numbers and characters appear and disappear again. Wallander is overwhelmed by the situation and brings computer specialist Robin onto his team. Robin quickly discovers that an enormous internal network is connected via the computer's Internet server. As her research continues, she realizes that a large-scale attack is in preparation, with only the decisive command missing to set the terror in motion. The networks of banks and governments are to be destroyed, which would result in an economic crisis within a short space of time. Top state officials get involved in the case, while Wallander finally manages to track down Sonja's internet friend Jonas. Unfortunately, it is too late, as he is no longer able to prevent Jonas from being critically injured by the killer. Wallander tracks the killer to a remote industrial site. A fight to the death ensues. When Wallander's team shows up, the killer takes his own life. Elvira is killed. Wallander is forced to realize that she was working for the perpetrator's side and that he was being targeted. The biggest task still awaits Wallander: he must prevent the terrorist attack. It comes to a showdown, at 9 a.m., the central super attack is to take place from an ATM.

© Photo: Nille Leander