Corallo's plan is ready to enter its final phase. After putting on his diving suit, the man dives into the dock and recovers the suitcase full of cash that he had hidden in the bulb of the boat. Then he contacts Mara again: he must convince Valentina to return to his side to take the money. Mara doesn't understand: she is sure that if he tells Valentina, she will immediately tell Leo. But, at least on the surface, that is exactly what Corallo wants: to use Valentina as bait to lure Leo into a trap. In the meantime, the District manages to foil at the last moment the sophisticated robbery set up by a gang of university researchers in the previous episode. The plan had something of a genius about it: micronize a large quantity of gold and hide it among a load of toxic waste ready to be transferred to Germany.
After speaking with Liverani, Leo is increasingly convinced that Corallo has remained in Rome. Yes, but where is he hiding? Since they raided the sports club, it is clear that the man no longer has any support in the capital. And he probably wouldn't even look for it, Leo reflects. Corallo is basically like Liverani: a lone wolf, someone who doesn't trust, who prefers to remain invisible. And who are the truly invisible people in the city? Those without a cell phone or computer... Those who don't use credit cards and have no bank, no salary, no rent... No bills, no receipts, no Tom Thumb crumbs that can lead to him. Leo is now almost certain: Corallo has camouflaged himself among the homeless.
After his daring escape from the woods, Corallo has managed to disappear. The X Tuscolano is in close contact with Interpol, but the news that is arriving is not comforting. The ferry on which they thought the fugitive had boarded, in fact, has been searched from top to bottom, but in vain. The question now is whether Corallo managed to disembark by eluding the controls, or whether he never boarded that ferry. In short, whether he has put into action yet another bluff. Leo decides to go to prison to ask Liverani for advice, who leans towards the second hypothesis. After all, it is the same trick that he had adopted: pretending to leave Rome and then acting undisturbed. And in fact, things are exactly like this: returning home, one evening, Mara finds an unexpected guest waiting for her, Antonio Corallo. But after the initial fright, the girl understands that the man does not want to hurt her.
The men of the Mobile and the X Tuscolano have surrounded the entire wooded area and are closing in on Corallo, who understands that he must move quickly if he doesn't want to be crushed. With him is Gualtieri, the hunter to whom he fed his dog. Corallo decides that the only way to escape the roadblocks is to use him as bait. He therefore orders him to call his wife on her cell phone so that she can join him in the car with his brother-in-law, pretending to be out on a Sunday outing. The plan is simple: once the police have let them pass, Corallo will take his brother-in-law's place in the car, while Gualtieri himself, with Corallo's backpack on his shoulder, will attract the police to himself. While Corallo is putting his plan together, the District investigates a strange series of apartment robberies.
Led by Brenta, the contingents of the Mobile and the X Tuscolano continue to hunt Corallo. Barbara and Pietro are exhausted, they feel like they are going round in circles, but Brenta reassures them: little by little they are pushing Corallo towards the edge of the woods, and sooner or later the man will be forced to make a misstep. And to prove his point he shows them a tree, whose branches appear to have been recently cut. They are close to his last refuge. Guns in hand, the police advance, but when they reach him, the refuge is empty. They missed him by a hair's breadth: the remains of food buried nearby are still warm. In Rome, the men of the District are dealing with a case of arson against a pub.
The hunt is on again. Leo and Gallo surround the woods where Corallo is hiding and organize the patrol batteries. With them is Brenta who, as a good Bergamasco, is perfectly at ease among the woods and slopes. Not only that, but he immediately dispenses a series of practical advice for tackling the mission, to the point that Leo decides to leave him permanently with the contingent of the Mobile. With him are Pietro and Barbara, decidedly less accustomed to life in the open air, which nevertheless seems to exert a pleasant influence on them. Alone, in contact with nature, they find themselves increasingly attracted to each other. In the meantime, Corallo decides to take cover, making himself even more invisible.
Leo and his men finally have Corallo's false name, Franco Isoardi, from which they manage to trace the small hotel where Corallo stayed for a night before disappearing again into thin air. Leo and Pietro go there to question the owner of the hotel, who, in front of the photo of the fugitive, confirms that it is him, Franco Isoardi. But he doesn't have much else to add. Corallo paid in cash and didn't mention where he was headed. But in the lobby there is an internet station that the hotel makes available to guests and our men decide to check its history. Among the pages consulted during Corallo's stay there is one that reports the timetables of buses headed to the province of Rieti. That Corallo decided to spend his time on the run there seems unlikely but Leo decides to check anyway.
The investigation into the escort ring inside the sports club has reached a dead end and, when all is said and done, Leo and his men realize that they do not have enough evidence to charge Martini with the exploitation of prostitution. This means that they have nothing in hand to put pressure on the manager of the club, so that he reveals information useful for the capture of Corallo. Pietro and Barbara then decide to follow another lead: that of the money with which the club was originally financed. Corallo, meanwhile, is fighting for survival in the mountains. With great difficulty he managed to extricate himself from the wild boar trap, but he has lost a lot of blood and the wound in his side risks becoming infected.
The meeting with Ekaterina has borne fruit and the men of the X Tuscolano finally have a name to investigate: Mara Fermi, the escort Luca was tailing the night he was killed. But the lead is thin and the girl has no criminal record, and Leo decides that the best way to get the information they need from her is for someone to become her confidant.
After the search of Ekaterina's house, the men of the X Tuscolano discover that the relationship between Guarinelli and his informant is much more than a simple professional bond. Now all they have to do is tail the policeman and wait for him to give himself away, but the task turns out to be more difficult than expected.
Luca Benvenuto has obtained a promotion that will take him far from the X Tuscolano. To direct the District in his place comes Leonardo Brandi, a former infiltrator of the Flying Squad who has just concluded an anti-money laundering operation in Germany. The two will work side by side for a few days, hunting down the dangerous escapee Rocco Liverani.