Plot

Two intertwined cases linking the past with the present require the aid of Department Q to catch an elusive serial killer while time is running out.

An old note is found in a bottle in Jutland which has traveled very long across the ocean a long time ago. The note is hard to decipher, but when the Danish investigator from Section Q receives it, the odd personalities within the section find a new angle on it and try to unveil yet another old and diabolic case even though the lead is cold.—Britt Engelhard Jadesø

An eight-year-old message in a bottle, a harrowing cry for help written in blood by two captive young brothers, finds its way to Department Q after the hair-raising events of Department Q: The Absent One (2014). In the meantime, as Detective Carl Mørck and Assad are sniffing for clues, a mysterious case of two missing children commands the attention of the local police. In an attempt to catch the creative serial killer with the distinctive modus operandi, Mørck crosses paths with a neglected wife stuck in a dead-end marriage, who endures the needs, the unpredictable whims, and above all, the threats of her emotionally unavailable husband. But, against the backdrop of belief and religious zeal, the desperate woman is determined to find the truth at all costs. Are those two cases linked together, or is it a mere coincidence? Can Department Q unveil in time the wicked Conspiracy of Faith?—Nick Riganas

= = SHORT VERSION = =

In a flashback, we see a boy and his sister abused in the name of religion by their mother who was mentally unstable. Thinking he is doing the devil's work, the boy murders the mother, after she blinds the sister in a tirade.

A man, the boy grown up, who now represents himself as a missionary, ingratiates himself to a devout family: parents and two children. He kidnaps the children and holds them in an isolated boathouse, seeking all the parents' assets in exchange.

A message in a bottle, which has been floating in the ocean for at least six years, is given to Department Q. Carl (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Assad (Fares Fares) determine the message was written by two boys who were kidnapped and held hostage years ago. The older boy was killed, but the younger survived and helps with the investigation.

The ransom drop goes bad and the father winds up in the hospital. Despite a heavy police presence in the hospital, the kidnapper manages to kill the father, wound the mother, and kidnap Carl. Carl wakes up, tied up, in the same isolated boathouse, with the two children. The kidnapper proclaims his allegiance to the devil - that he has perpetrated multiple kidnappings to make families lose their faith. Assad tracks Carl down and fights and then kills the kidnapper. The children are safe. Carl gains a new insight into faith.

= = LONG VERSION = =

CREDITS

SEASIDE

In a dark room, its wooden plank floor covered by inches of water, a boy hurriedly scribbles on a piece of crumpled paper, rolls it up, and inserts it into a bottle. As he pushes the bottle through a hole in the floor, someone comes in and shines a flashlight on the boy's face. The bottle floats away but wedges into a chain link fence.

Over time, still wedged in the fence, the bottle gathers algae, but eventually is dislodged and floats to the choppy surface.

Later, a man finishing his ocean swim, comes on shore to change out of his wet-suit and finds the bottle on the beach.

DEPARTMENT Q

Rose (Johanne Louise Schmidt) interrupts Assad while he is typing a report, much to his dismay. She comes up to him, shadow-boxing enthusiastically, and soon they are sparring. He lets her lay into him but he takes her blows.

Later, with Rose watching him apprehensively, Assad calls Carl, but only gets his voicemail.

Lars Bjorn (Morten Kirkskov) drops an evidence bag onto Assad's desk - he calls it a message in a bottle - and introduces Pasgard (Jakob Oftebro), apparently a new detective for Department Q. Bjorn asks Rose where Carl is and she describes how their chief, Marcus Jacobsen (Søren Pilmark), had put Carl on sick leave after Carl was worn out from the previous case (assuming the events of Department Q: The Absent One (2014)). She continues to say how Carl was out of reach and blank, but Assad interrupts Rose's over-sharing and assures Bjorn that Carl will be back at work the next day.

Assad and Rose examine the contents of the evidence bag: in separate zipper-lock bags, a plastic bottle and the letter that was inside. Assad thinks he sees blood on the paper and they send it to the police lab.

CARL'S APARTMENT

Carl heads for his front door as if to go out but stops short and returns to sit on his sofa, staring blankly into the distance. Sometime later, Assad visits and reminds Carl he was due back at work. Carl barely acknowledges his partner. Assad leads him outside for a walk. On the way, Carl sees a handful of children playing football in a field and stares at them thoughtfully.

SKALS - STEENSGAARD HOME

In their bedroom, a boy of around 7 and his sister of around 10, say their bedtime prayers. In another room, a woman, their mother, tends to an older bedridden man. Outside of the house, her husband stares forlornly as threshers work the fields across the road. The woman calls him in. The girl, now asleep, is wearing a small crucifix on a wrist-let.

SKALS - CHURCH

A girl is being baptized as the brother and sister sing in the children's choir, and the parents watch from the congregation. A well-dressed man, his hair slicked back, comes in and the father points him out to the mother. The man smiles at them and they smile back.

SKALS - STEENSGAARD HOME

The man has joined the family for dinner. Afterwards, they chat at the dinner table. It's been more than a year since the man has been in town. The man apologizes for the interval and congratulates Elias (Jakob Ulrik Lohmann) on his beautiful farm. Elias reveals that he had to sell the farm and that they now only own the farm house. Defensively, Rakel (Amanda Collin) tells the man that they have other jobs and are still doing well. The man reassures Elias, saying it's important to have family and faith. Elias and Rakel agree.

The children come in to say goodnight. Magdalena addresses the man as "Father" and he notices the wrist-let. Proudly, Elias tells the man that Magdalena had been named to the role of "messenger" for the entire region. The man holds her hand, maybe for a little too long, and Magdalena yanks it away.

Outside, as the man, "Johannes," (Pål Sverre Hagen) says his goodbyes, he cradles Rakel's face, again a little too long for Rakel's comfort. Elias does not notice.

A short distance away, Johannes has pulled to the side of the road and has a flashback: a mother holding her son's head and caressing his hair. Then there is a loud squishing sound.

POLICE LAB

A computer screen indicates there was blood on the paper.

DEPARTMENT Q

Carl sits silently, rubbing his hands together as Assad and Rose go over an enlargement of the degraded letter. They see the words: bus stop, children, mom and dad, and (separately) locked us up.

The algae on the bottle was six years old; the "ink" used was tar as could be found on a boat; there is a drawing of a lighthouse in the corner of the letter; and, the only legible part of the signature is the initial "P".

Because of the "mom and dad" Assad deduces the message in the bottle was written by a child.

They speculate on what someone who needs help would write on a letter: their location, their captor.

They continue going over the letter and see the phrase: a man called, Jehovah will save us.

Assad asks Rose to do a computer search for child abductions over the past 10 years. To their surprise, Carl speaks up and tells them that there have only been two such cases in Denmark in the last decade, and the press had covered the cases completely. Neither case involved a "P" or Jehovah's Witnesses.

POLICE LAB

As the tech chatters away to Assad about his investigative process, Carl impatiently walks up and wakes the tech's computer. The tech (or his computer) found the word "Lautrupyang" in the letter, which Assad recognizes as a location in Ballerup in Denmark. The letter also says: There were other children here.

BALLERUP - SCHOOL

The headmistress tells Assad that none of their children has ever disappeared. Assad mentions Jehovah's Witnesses and she says they had a boy of that faith named Trygve. As Carl stares out the window at children playing in the yard, the headmistress goes to retrieve the files. Trygve Holdt, first grade, left the school at his parents' request so that their children could go on a religious revival trip. Carl notes the headmistress said "children" so she goes back for more files. Trygve had a brother Poul, fourth grade.

As they leave the school, Assad tells Carl that when they find Poul and Trygve, the boys will have a laugh about their bottle turning up after so many years. As Carl glares at him, Assad shrugs, knowing he didn't even sound convincing to himself.

SKALS -- OUTSIDE A SCHOOL

A sedan waits by the side of the road as school lets out. Wearing their backpacks, Magdalena and her brother Samuel walk up the road toward home. With acres of farmland behind them, and in front of them, Magdalena leafs through a fashion magazine. Samuel asks to see it and Magdalena refuses. Samuel says he'll tell on her - they're not supposed to be looking at models with short hair and make-up.

The sedan pulls up beside them. It is Johannes, who offers them a ride. Samuel rushes to open the back door, but Magdalena grabs him and tells Johannes that they'll walk. As they walk on, Johannes pulls up in front of them, reaches over and opens the front passenger door, and again offers them a ride: that it might rain, and that they could be home in two minutes. Magdalena says she thought Johannes said he was leaving the other night. Johannes says he left something in church and was on his way to say goodbye to their parents. He offers to let them sit in front and they get in, Magdalena first and then Samuel. Shortly, Magdalena shrieks and Samuel screams, "No," while trying to get out the door. Johannes pulls him back in. A few yards back, a dog-walker hears and sees the commotion.

SKALS

Elias is working at a market garden. Rakel is tending to the old man at home. The phone rings. Later, Rakel shrieks loudly.

CARL AND ASSAD'S CAR

Rose calls and tells them Trygve's parents were found dead after an overdose of sleeping pills.

Carl and Assad go to a meth house and find the teen-aged Trygve. He says he doesn't have a big brother, but then claims the brother went away and he doesn't know where he is. Carl and Assad leave and decide to wait outside. Later, Trygve meets with them, away from the other users, and asks to see the letter.

JOHANNES'S HOME

A woman sings to herself as she prepares dinner in her kitchen. The man, his hair loose and not slicked back, carrying a valise, walks in quietly and surprises her. She calls him "Christian" and is very happy to see him. They kiss.

POLICE INTERROGATION ROOM

As Rose watches from a camera feed, Trygve recalls the smell of rotting seaweed and salt water. We see flashbacks, similar to the opening scene, of two boys tied up inside a wooden planked room with half a foot of water on the floor. He remembers a constant metallic drone coming from the outside - like a factory or a busy road. Carl asks if he remembers what the man looked like. In tears, Trygve relates how the man made him watch as he stabbed Poul to death with a pair of scissors.

VIBORG -- POLICE STATION

A detective talks comfortingly to a young female civilian. A female police officer takes a call from a man who saw a boy being forced into a car. An older police officer dismisses it, saying it could have been anything: an argument, a playful parent. The detective rolls her eyes at the older officer and glances over at the female police officer, commiserating. The female police officer leaves to send a car to the area.

DEPARTMENT Q

Carl and Assad are consulting with Jacobsen, Bjorn, and Pasgard about the possible path of the bottle based on tidal information. Although Trygve said the man spoke Norwegian, the bottle couldn't have come from Norway as the current would have taken the bottle north. There was no actual boat involved, so it might have been a beachfront house, a boathouse, a shed, or a docked houseboat. Bjorn wonders if they should trust the memory of a fifteen year-old meth addict, plus a search of the probable area would cost 0.4% of their entire budget and he refuses to give the go-ahead for that. Jacobsen looks on frustrated. Carl says they'll talk to Trygve some more. Assad reminds them that Trygve mentioned a recurring sound and they should investigate that further. They wonder what kind of parents would not report a missing child, however, they surmise that some religious cults make their followers do weird things.

Rose has received a call from the Viborg police - they are replying to her email blast about missing children and are reporting that a child was forced into a car in the village of Skals - which houses a religious sect, The Lord's Disciples. Jacobsen thinks the Viborg police can handle it. Away from earshot of Bjorn, Carl asks Jacobsen if he can extend his leave of absence so he can visit relatives in Jutland. Assad plays along. Jacobsen also plays along and agrees.

CARL AND ASSAD'S CAR

On the drive up, they read that The Lord's Disciples believe Jesus was born in Texas. Carl says that they are obviously dealing with retards. This leads to an argument about faith - Assad wondering why Carl has such disdain for people who believe in a higher power and why he believes in nothing; Carl wondering how intelligent people can believe in something beyond, like a higher power.

VIBORG - POLICE STATION

The detective, Lisa, tells them that despite the call, no one has been reported missing. She gives them a printout of the members of the sect. She's marked the families with school-aged children. As they head for their car, Carl is surprised to see her following along, but she asks if he actually thought they would allow them to interrogate the citizens of their town without the presence of local police.

SKALS

They drive into Skals and interview some of the families in the neighborhood. At the Steensgaard home, Elias comes out but closes the door behind him. He says he hasn't seen anything and that his children are with their aunt in Sweden. Assad asks if they could come in, but Elias says they don't allow strangers in the house and addressing Carl, especially not his kind, nodding toward Assad. Elias says they're in the middle of prayers and goes back into the house. Inside, Rakel is sitting on the floor, keening. Elias holds her and asks her to hush.

POLICE HEADQUARTERS

With Rose watching, a sound engineer adjusts different sound bites into Trygve's headphones, asking him if that is what he heard.

VIBORG - BAR

As Carl looks through the case file, Lisa tries to make small talk. Carl replies distractedly, and Lisa goes to the bar. Assad points out that Lisa is nice, and that Carl should ask her out. Assad notes that Carl hasn't gone out since his divorce. Carl denies this. Lisa comes back with beers for Carl and herself. A group of bikers come in and Carl asks Lisa what's going on. She tells him that tomorrow is a public holiday - Ascension Day. They determine Poul and Trygve where taken on Whit Sunday.

Carl calls Rose to ask her to do a computer search for any child-related incidences that occurred around religious holidays. She keeps trying to interrupt him as he speaks - she has found another similar abduction. Two girls were reported missing, but then the mother called back a few hours later and called off the alarm. The family has moved to Thailand, but only had the eldest daughter with them. Rose also says that she's found something else about the Steensgaard family.

JOHANNES'S HOME

"Christian" and the woman are making out in bed. He keeps pushing her hand away from himself and setting her hand onto her crotch. She starts to masturbate and then he starts snickering. She is aghast.

SEASIDE

A man walks on a wood-plank jetty towards a small shack supported by piers over the water. Inside, two children are tied up. It is Magdalena and Samuel. Magdalena prays softly. The man is Johannes. He drops her fashion magazine into her lap and asks her what her mom and dad would say if they knew she was reading it. She turns away. He tells Magdalena that only God can save her now and that she must pray. She is silent, and he screams at her to pray. She does. He has a flashback where a boy is trying to pray at the kitchen table and is being berated by his mother. The mother demands for him to pray in Danish and not in the language of his father (assume Norwegian). His sister is sitting across from him, also in prayer. The mother yells at her, too.

SKALS - STEENSGAARD HOME

Elias kisses Rakel as he leaves the house. Carl gets out of the car and approaches the house. He asks Elias why he has liquidated over 670,000 kroner (over $100k US) from the family assets. Elias tries to get away, but Carl and Assad close in on him in the front garden. Carl says they checked on Elias' sister in Sweden and the children aren't there. Carl holds up his hand to Elias' chest and Elias clocks him. Assad puts Elias in a headlock. Elias says that "he" can't find out that they have spoken to the police. Carl tells him that this is not "the man's" first time and that in the previous instance, only one of the children came back. Assad releases his hold and Elias surrenders and agrees to talk, but not with Assad. Rakel begs Elias to cooperate, that the police are here for the sake of the children and Elias marches inside. Rakel leads Carl and Assad into the house.

The parents show them the children's bedroom. Rakel says they hadn't even started worrying about the children when "he" called. He spoke Norwegian and demanded they withdraw all their money - he knew exactly how much they had. She says they know him - his name is Johannes. Elias storms out of the bedroom.

In the kitchen, Elias tells them the man has been around off and on for the past two to three years and that he claimed to be a missionary for the congregation. They had dinner together right there the day before yesterday. Assad thinks the name is an alias. Carl asks about the money and Elias says that he is to put it in a bag and get on a train for Hamburg later that night. The man will call Elias to tell him where to hide the money, and then Elias is to get off at the next stop. As soon as he has the money, the man will release the children where they can be found. If they told anyone about their situation, or if they did not otherwise do as they were told, he will kill the children - but not until he's made sure that the children can't go to Paradise. Elias says that is why they can't involve the police. Carl says that Elias will still make the drop, but that the police will have to be there. Elias refuses. Carl promises that they will only make a move when they are sure they can catch the man. Elias still refuses. Carl reminds him of the other victims, and how they refused to tell the police, and what happened to their children. Assad tells Carl to back off. Assad leaves it to Elias and Rakel to decide, but that he agrees with Carl. Rakel convinces Elias and they agree.

POLICE HEADQUARTERS

Jacobsen goes over the plan in front of a roomful of detectives and police officers. There are eleven train stations between Hadsten and Hamburg; they'll have two men on each platform. One man will board with Elias; two others will board earlier down the line. Two patrol cars will follow the train in case the kidnapper escapes in a car. They have five hours. Assad recommends a helicopter in case something goes wrong. Carl and Assad will be in one of the patrol cars.

Bjorn wonders about the expenditure of manpower to get one criminal, who might not even be armed. Carl says the man is toying with the families - that it's not about the money - that he is not a kidnapper, he is a serial killer. Assad worries that if they don't catch him tonight, that he might kill one or both children. Bjorn is silent. Assad passes out sketches of the suspect.

JOHANNES'S HOME

Johannes and the woman are watching TV. He leaves the house and a short-time later, sits in his car, staring at a wrinkled photograph of a girl with vacant colorless eyes.

POLICE HEADQUARTERS

The sound tech produces more sounds for Trygve.

CARL AND ASSAD'S CAR

They drive to Skals with the helicopter trailing them overhead.

SKALS - CHURCH

They wire up Elias as Rakel, Carl and Assad look on. Assad gets the call that the train is headed to the station. They head out.

HADSTEN STATION

Rose and Borge board the train at the previous station. Elias enters the Hadsten station and looks around nervously, hyperventilating. Pasgard coolly approaches Elias pretending as if Elias needs help buying a ticket. He walks Elias to the ticket machine and whispers to him to calm down.

CARL AND ASSAD'S CAR

Assad wonders aloud how the bottle came to them, just at this time - how they would otherwise never have known about Magdalena and Samuel. They can save the lives of two children because of a letter that showed up eight years later. Carl asks if Assad thinks God sent them that message in a bottle. Assad wonders if there is a force that is protecting them, propelling them toward good. Carl thinks its crap. Assad urges Carl to stop calling it crap. He wonders how Carl, with half his life left, has seemingly given up.

TRAIN

As they approach Hadsten station, Borge, Rose, and the other policemen update each other over their wireless radios.

HADSTEN STATION / TRAIN

The train pulls up and Elias boards. Pasgard enters the car behind Elias'. He notices a man in a hoodie texting on his phone. The helicopter has visual; Jacobsen and Bjorn watch the feed from headquarters. As the train passes by a crossing, Carl and Assad, waiting by the side of the road, head off after it. Pasgard wanders into Elias' car and sits a few rows ahead so he can watch Elias. The hoodied man dials his phone and Elias gets a call. Rose sees the hoodied man with the phone at his ear. Elias is told to go to the nearest restroom in 30 seconds. Elias demands to speak to the children, but the caller reminds him that he only has 30 seconds. The hoodied man walks down the aisle and Borge follows him. As Elias walks past, Pasgard changes his seat so he can keep watch on Elias. The caller tells Elias to look for a door with a red handle. Elias reluctantly opens it as wind rushes into the car. Borge and Rose confront the hoodied man - it is not their suspect. Carl, driving very fast parallel to the train, says the caller is not on the train.

The caller tells Elias to prepare to toss the bag. Elias wants reassurance that he will get both his children back. The caller scoffs saying that he never promised to give them both back. The passengers are watching all this happening; a few are capturing it on their cellphones. The caller says they are approaching a crossing gate and a forest, and that Elias should get ready. Elias again demands the return of his children, but the caller warns him to focus. Pasgard, Borge, and Rose can only watch as Jacobsen has told them to hold back. Carl and Assad screech to a stop as the gate comes down and the train rushes past them. Carl drives around the gate; Assad says the next crossing is in two kilometers. The helicopter pilot says they will lose visual when the train enters the forest.

The caller tells Elias to throw the bag and hangs up. Elias throws the bag and then jumps out himself. Pasgard rushes to the door but does not jump out. Rakel, at the church, hears the radio chatter that a man has jumped from the train; Lisa tries to comfort her. Carl speeds ahead of the train and crosses in front of it, missing the train by millimeters. Assad screams at Carl, but Carl just asks if God is protecting them.

FOREST

Elias is bruised and cut up but manages to walk into the forest. Jacobsen tries to radio Carl, but there is no response. Carl and Assad continue driving into the forest. Elias sees a car parked among the trees and checks the inside and the trunk. There is nothing. Johannes comes up behind him and stabs him in the gut with a pair of scissors. He opens the scissors and twists it around. From a distance, Carl yells for Elias. Johannes gets in his car and drives straight toward Carl. Carl shoots at him but Johannes drives by. Then Carl shoots out the back window which causes Johannes to stop and get stuck in the undergrowth. As Johannes drives off again, Carl manages to rush up to the car, dives onto the hood of the trunk, and reaches in to hold on to the back seat. Carl shoots erratically into the car as Johannes swerves through the trees until a bullet hits him in the shoulder. Carl is thrown off the car and Johannes drives off.

Assad tends to Elias who is bleeding from his wound and coughing up blood. Pasgard, Borge and Rose get off at the next station which is swarming with police and curious passengers. Assad urges Carl to call the helicopter. Carl calls Rose for the helicopter to take Elias to the hospital. Carl looks down and sees the wrinkled photograph of a girl with vacant colorless eyes.

HOSPITAL

Pasgard enters the hospital and sits with another detective outside the ICU wing. Elias is unconscious, hooked up in the ICU. Carl, Assad, Lisa, and Rakel are downstairs in the hospital waiting room, watching a news station reporting that the police has not been forthcoming with information, and that they are speculating that it involves a ransom case. Cellphone video shows Elias jumping out of the train. Rakel watches in horror as they show images of Magdalena and Samuel. She begs to know why it was HER children who were abducted. Carl and Assad can only look on blankly. Rakel then reminds them that they promised they would return her children safely, and now they are still missing, and Elias is in the ICU. She says it is their fault. Carl's arms are by his side, his fists balled up and trembling.

Later, Lisa tries to reassure Carl. Carl grunts distantly. She asks how long Carl has had his tremor; she's had colleagues who have been through traumatic situations and have developed similar symptoms. She suggests he seek help. He agrees he should do something about it.

JOHANNES'S HOME

Johannes is at the dinner table tending to his bloody through-and-through shoulder wound. The TV news reports they have been unable to get a statement from the head investigator of the kidnapping case, Carl Morck. The screen shows a video, taken from a distance, of Carl talking on his cellphone. Johannes talks to the image of Carl and asks if Carl sees him. He laughs when Carl happens to look toward the camera. The woman comes in and notices Johannes's wounds.

POLICE LAB

The tech dates the wrinkled photograph to 1993-1996. Rose asks him to zoom in on her eyes. The fingerprints on the photograph are not in any database.

HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM

The police dispatcher puts through a call to Carl from a man claiming to know something about the kidnapping. The caller asks Carl what he believes in, if he is a man of faith. There is a regular electric chime sound over the line. Carl answers yes, and admits that they should have let the man alone. The man says both children will now die, and that it is Carl's fault. The man accuses Carl of being more focused on him (the kidnapper) rather than the children. The man predicts that they will meet and hangs up. Carl sits down and crumples in his seat.

ICU

Rakel is sitting outside Elias' ICU. A doctor enters Elias' room and pulls a cable from the heart monitor. Carl and Assad walk through the elevator bay and Carl hears the regular electric chime sounds that signal the arrival of each elevator car. Carl realizes the caller is inside the hospital. He tells Pasgard and the other detective to seal off the exits. Carl and Assad run off to the ICU. The doctor comes out and tells Rakel that Elias is waking up. She runs in and checks on Elias and realizes he has worsened. She calls for help, but the doctor, who is really Johannes, stabs a hypodermic into her neck. He covers her mouth so no one can hear her scream. The injection makes her go into seizures and he drops her to the floor. Elias' stats are going downhill and the nurse at the station sees the monitor and wonders why there wasn't an alarm. She and another nurse rush in. One tends to Elias, while the other tends to Rakel, who is still having seizures.

Carl and Assad arrive. Assad rushes to Elias side and tries to comfort him; Carl unholsters his gun and goes back into the hallway. Elias manages to tell Assad that it was Johannes, and that he was wearing a white coat. There is the resulting commotion in the hallway and as Carl runs by, we see Johannes sitting with his back turned, chatting with a hospital employee. As Carl continues his search, Assad calls him to tell him Johannes is wearing a white coat. Carl looks through the window-lined hallways toward Assad and sees Johannes standing behind Assad on the other side of the glass of the ICU. Carl holds the cell phone away from his face to point past Assad at Johannes (remember he is holding his gun in the other hand). Assad does not hear as Carl says, "Behind you".

Assad asks the attending doctor if a priest is available. Elias holds his hand by Assad's face and codes.

Carl chases Johannes through the halls. Carl points his gun at a surprised police officer who has come up on the elevator. Carl takes his radio and orders him to follow. Pasgard is searching the stairwells and chases a man in a white coat running two floors below. Carl enters the stairwell and sends the police officer off onto another floor. Carl comes to the landing of the parking garage and exits as Pasgard, surprised, points his gun at Carl. Carl sends Pasgard to go search the levels from the other direction. A car screeches towards Carl and he points his gun at it, but it is a family leaving the hospital. Carl notices his hand holding the police radio is trembling uncontrollably. He turns toward a sound further along. Thinking it is Pasgard, he calls out. We can see Johannes lurking on the level below.

Carl continues his search and finds Pasgard, sitting in the front passenger seat of a car, choking on his own blood. Carl calls for medical assistance.

Later, Assad is radioing frantically for Carl and runs to the exit level of the parking garage. A car drives by slowly. Pasgard, still in the passenger seat, now with his left hand tied to the steering wheel of the moving car, and with blood spurting out of his carotid artery onto the closed front window. Assad watches in shock as the car slows to a stop outside the garage and a speeding truck crashes into the car.

COUNTRYSIDE ROAD

Johannes is driving another car, a BMW convertible, with Carl tied up, unconscious in the back seat. In flashback, we see the boy watching as the mother dips the blades of a pair of scissors into hydrochloric acid before cutting a sheet of art paper. The sister (with normal eyes) confronts the mother, saying he (her brother) has done nothing wrong. The mother says God does not want the daughter, and when the daughter continues with the confrontation, the mother splashes the bottle of hydrochloric acid into the girl's face. The boy grabs the girl and tries to comfort her. The mother dissolves into deep prayer.

HOSPITAL SECURITY OFFICE

Assad, Lisa, and the other detective review the security feeds to try to find where Carl went. They see a BMW that is not registered with the hospital. They call in the license plate; it belongs to a Mia Hansen (Lotte Andersen) who lives 30 minutes from there.

POLICE HEADQUARTERS

Rose tells a roomful of detectives that Trygve reported hearing a certain sound night and day during his captivity. It's their only lead to finding the children and Carl. She plays the sound Trygve has identified with the sound tech, a repetitive whooshing/whirring sound, and the detectives guess at the cause of the sound: factory noise, a generator. A detective remembers that Trygve was in a boathouse, which means he was by the sea. Rose confirms this, and the detective thinks she knows what the sound is.

SEASIDE

We see a wind turbine, whooshing and whirring away, over a small wooden boathouse which is connected to land, about 300 feet away, by a narrow wood-plank jetty. A man approaches the boathouse, carrying another man over his shoulder. We then see Carl, still unconscious, being dragged into the boathouse.

JOHANNES'S (AND MIA HANSEN'S) HOME

In the kitchen, Assad finds the woman, dead, lying in a pool of blood. Rose calls and tells Assad that they are guessing it's a wind turbine and that they are mapping out residences around wind farms. Assad opens the garage and finds the car from the forest, the rear windshield still shot out. He opens the trunk and finds plastic ties, duct tape, and watercolors apparently of the girl with the vacant eyes. He sees the name "Becca" scribbled on the back of one painting.

BECCA'S HOME

We see a modern, well-appointed house. Through the door, Assad hands a woman, with vacant colorless eyes, his embossed police badge so she can confirm his identity. She fingers the badge and asks him to come in. The woman is blind and has severe facial scarring. She affirms that her brother, Thomas, speaks Norwegian. He travels a lot and currently lives in Germany. He is the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. He bought her her house and has always taken good care of her.

Assad tells her they are looking for a man who kidnapped two children, from a sect called The Lord's Disciples; that he's done it before, and the victims are always siblings from very religious families. The woman sits down. She says she heard about it on the news and Assad asks if it could be her brother. Assad tells her the brother lives in Denmark possibly a place near the water. In a flashback, we see the boy tending to his sister, now lying in bed with a cloth draped over her eyes. The boy walks out of the room and shortly thereafter, the sister sits up to the sounds of their mother crying in pain.

Becca grimaces in anguish. Assad rushes outside and tells the patrol officers that they are looking for a boathouse by the North Sea with wind turbines nearby. The cars take off, with Assad in a helicopter, searching from overhead.

SEASIDE

Carl regains consciousness, tied up and chained inside the boathouse. There are the ever-present few inches of water on the floor. Johannes, his legs dangling over the side of the berth, watches amusedly. Magdalena is a few feet away, tied up, sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees, sobbing quietly. Carl looks around and sees Samuel curled on the floor, unmoving.

Johannes says he's the devil's son, not the devil's chosen son, but one of his many sons; one of his soldiers. In a flashback, we see the boy enter his mother's room as she is sleeping. He sits next to her and shakes her gently.

Johannes tells Carl the devil came to him when he needed him most; giving him strength when he was weak. In a flashback, as the mother wakes, the boy stabs her repeatedly in the stomach with a pair of scissors, making loud squishing sounds.

Johannes tells Carl he became the devil's ever since. Carl asks if Johannes does this to send the children's souls to the devil. Johannes says it does not have to do with the children, but instead it is to serve the devil's final purpose, which is to defeat God, to rob the devout of their faith. He robs the families of their faith and the loss of faith spreads. Johannes tells Carl that now, he will rob Carl of HIS faith. Carl says Johannes is wasting his time; Carl doesn't believe in God, he believes in jack-shit.

Johannes smirks and walks over to Samuel. He unchains him and picks up his limp body. Carl protests but Johannes drops Samuel into the water. Samuel wakes up and struggles but Johannes holds him below the surface. Carl struggles against his chains and urges Johannes to take him instead, but Johannes continues to toy with Samuel. Johannes says that Carl has spent his life saving people he has never met; Johannes has never met a believer like Carl. Samuel finally stops struggling and drifts below the surface. Carl begs Johannes to bring Samuel up. Johannes thinks Carl will remember this day forever; that while Carl was there, that didn't change a thing, and God never came.

As Carl looks on defeated, Johannes reaches for Magdalena and caresses her head. Johannes pulls out a pair of scissors and cuts her wrist ties. He hands the scissors to her and tells her to get her revenge; that she will be his (the devil's) and that he will set her free. Carl urges Johannes to stop. Magdalena clutches the scissors but doesn't move. Johannes tells her to stab him; she shakes her head. Johannes takes them from her, saying she disappoints him. He walks over to Carl who lunges ineffectively at Johannes. Johannes says Carl will now have to live with this.

The helicopter passes overhead. Jacobsen, watching from the feed, tells Assad to land and rescue Carl and the children. Johannes walks out of the boathouse. Carl tells Magdalena to cut his ties. She finds a pair of wire cutters and frees Carl. Carl dives into the water and sees a skeleton on the bottom. He pulls Samuel up and performs CPR. The helicopter sets down on the beach. Assad, gun drawn, walks down the jetty but does not see Johannes who is holding himself under the wooden planks of the jetty. Samuel is resuscitated as Assad comes in. Carl warns him Johannes is nearby; Carl will stay with the children.

Assad looks toward the beach and sees a flock of birds scattering into the air; he runs in that direction. He slowly searches through the tall grass. Johannes sneaks up beside him, but Assad turns just in time and Johannes winds up stabbing Assad in the arm with the scissors, making him drop his gun. They struggle and fall into the water at the shoreline and Assad collapses beneath the surface. Johannes looks around, sees no sign of Assad, and smirks. Suddenly Assad resurfaces and grabs Johannes, forcing him into the water. Johannes is able to stab Assad again, but Assad keeps his hold on Johannes.

In a flashback, we see the boy washing the scissors at a basin. Behind him, we see the blood-soaked body of his mother.

Johannes drowns. Back in the boathouse, Carl hugs Magdalena, Magdalena hugs Samuel.

ANOTHER CHURCH

Much later, we are at the funeral for Poul. Trygve is sitting by the small casket in the chancel. Carl, Rose, Assad and Lisa are in the front pew. The pastor finishes, and a choir starts to sing. Rose joins in. Carl picks up the hymnal and looks at it half-heartedly. As the song continues, and with Rose singing beside him, Carl weeps quietly.

SKALS - CHURCH

Rakel is sweeping up at the church. Magdalena is collecting hymnals from the pews. Samuel is standing forlornly by the baptismal font. Rakel walks over and strokes Samuel's hair and gathers her children to leave.

ANOTHER CHURCH

Outside, after the funeral, Carl tells Assad, thanks. Assad nods. Carl looks across the way and sees the same group of children from earlier playing football. He tells Assad that he always looked at those kids, thinking them fools, so full of dreams. He concludes that they have no idea but then wonders maybe that it doesn't matter.

THE END

END CREDITS