Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Monday, February 5 - Highway Patrol: Hot Cargo & Oil Lease


Harry Wilkerson and his partner Bemis pull a series of truck hijackings by staging fake accidents, knowing that most truck drivers will stop and attempt to render whatever assistance they can. They rely upon their confederate "Pop" (the owner of a roadside diner) to supply information concerning which drivers are carrying particularly valuable cargo. After one hijacking, Dan Mathews and Sergeant Walters use tire impressions and testimony from a victim and a hitchhiker to steadily narrow the focus of their investigation. They trap Bemis at the chicken ranch where the stolen goods were unloaded, but must use a ruse in order to trick "Pop" into leading them to the warehouse where the goods are stored.


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.

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