A political plot thwarted by a muddy road

In 1800, Senator Dominique Clément de Ris is kidnapped from his home by Fouché's men because of compromising documents he holds. The vehicle carrying the hostage gets stuck in the mud in Saint-Quentin at the exit of a bridge damaged by floods that occurred thirty years earlier. This travel incident forces the kidnappers to change their prisoner's transport, before Fouché decides to release him in the face of the fallout from his operation.