Harter Brocken: Die Kronzeugin (2017)

Local police officer Koops rarely has much to do in his quiet little town in the Harz Mountains. So once again he is carving a soapstone figurine when postman Heiner Kelzenberg brings him the mail. Police officer Mette Vogt also brings a little variety: she comes from the neighboring Braunlage precinct and practices shooting with Koops. But that evening things get really interesting when Christiane Kuschnereit from the Hanover State Criminal Police Office (LKA) arrives in St. Andreasberg to hide a key witness in a holiday home until the trial of Kuzman Petrovic begins. Kuschnereit, who has known Koops since they were young, lets him in on her plan so he can alert her promptly if he notices anything suspicious. The next morning, everything initially seems normal, but then Koops sees Heiner coming toward him on his route, even though he has just seen a postman drive in the opposite direction. Acting on instinct, he runs to the holiday home, where the fake postman is just knocking at the door, and events take a disastrous turn. The key witness, Kuschnereit, and her colleague are killed by two hit men, who also die in the ensuing shootout. When Koops arrives, the dying Kuschnereit tells him that the real key witness is still alive and that only a double had been placed in the holiday home. She gives Koops a phone number and asks him to look after Matilda Schönemann and take her to Goslar the next day for the court hearing scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Meanwhile, Philipp Benedikt and Tobias Gottschalk from the LKA arrive in St. Andreasberg and take over the investigation. Koops has no way of knowing that both men are moles working for Petrovic, and that they immediately realized the actual key witness was not among the victims. Koops calls Matilda Schönemann and meets her in the woods so that her hiding place at the hotel will not be exposed. Schönemann is unsure whether she should still testify or withdraw instead, but Koops explains that otherwise she will always live in fear of possible pursuers, and that people will have given their lives for nothing to protect her. He persuades her to let him take her to Goslar for the trial. For her own safety, he gives her a gun and sends her back to the hotel until the next day. Philipp Benedikt and Tobias Gottschalk recruit two people to help them search for the key witness. They themselves contact Koops again, and he realizes that the two are not concerned with the witness’s well-being. So he decides to get Matilda Schönemann out of the hotel immediately. Tobias Gottschalk catches him by surprise; in the ensuing scuffle, Koops is injured in the arm, while Schönemann kills Gottschalk. Koops and Schönemann have to hurry to escape the corrupt LKA officers, who have picked up their trail after discovering Gottschalk’s body at the hotel. The fugitives retreat into the woods, where Koops knows his way around. Meanwhile, Benedikt has the roads blocked and launches a dragnet, searching for the two with a helicopter as well. Koops wants to draw attention to himself, so he sends Schönemann to a nearby bus stop, where she should not attract attention on her own and can take the bus to Goslar. The plan fails because Benedikt has the bus stop watched too. Schönemann now runs into Benedikt and his two helpers. She flees across the road onto the dam of the reservoir, where the showdown begins as Koops arrives with his two helpers, Heiner Kelzenberg and Mette Vogt. Thanks to Mette’s accuracy, Benedikt and his men are taken out.