 Using a bazooka stolen from a U. S. Army facility, supposed Korean War veteran Virgil Stocker and his partner Alfred Davidson rob a $33,000 payroll from the Reiner Oil Company. When they find themselves bottled in by Highway Patrol roadblocks, they return to the oil field and threaten to use the bazooka to destroy the storage tanks and wells if they are not permitted to go free. Dan Mathews and Army Detective Fletcher (a former tank operator) are able to use a scraper with a heavy blade to get within handgun range of the two. Stocker reveals himself to be a pusillanimous fake who never actually saw combat. When he flees, he is easily captured by Fletcher and Davidson finds himself facing Dan Mathews alone.