Detective Ray Williams, [Michael O'Shea], is recuperating from a broken rib as his wife Ann Williams, [Julie Bishop], presses him to consider a desk job, especially with their new baby on the way. A call from the police inspector, [Robert Shayne], interrupts the domestic moment and delivers the shocking news: the homicidal criminal “Red” Kluger, [Charles McGraw], the man Ray once tracked, has escaped from Folsom Prison.
Kluger and his gang have already seized Ray Williams and district attorney Barker MacDonald, [Frank Conroy], along with nightclub singer Carol, [Virginia Grey], who protests that she never betrayed them and points to Tony Anzio, [Ben Welden], as the real rat. Kluger then brings Tony up from Mexico City to join the crew, promising a cut of the robbery proceeds and providing a small plane to flee the country once the job is done. He makes no secret of his plan to kill Ray and MacDonald once they are out of reach.
The danger escalates as the gang abducts Joe Turner, the unsuspecting driver of a hired truck, and uses the vehicle to move a load that turns out to be a car carrying Kluger, most of his henchmen, Carol, and the two kidnapping victims. The gang outpace police roadblocks and retreat to a shack outside Banning, where Ray and MacDonald are bound in a back room. Joe makes a desperate bid to escape with a gun he took from the truck, but Kluger coolly persuades him to surrender, warning that the others will shoot him if he resists and he will finish him off afterward.
To mislead the authorities, Kluger forces Ray into a perilous game, while Ray quietly leaves a clue for his wife by asking the radio man to pass greetings to their unborn child. Carol, meanwhile, manages to slip the handcuff keys to Ray and MacDonald in the back room. The two detectives subdue and tie up the henchmen, then call out to Kluger. Kluger fires through the door, wounding Ray in the leg, and hovers outside when he hears Tony’s plane overhead. Ray climbs up into the rafters above the back-room door, using the moment to bait Kluger as MacDonald taunts him. As Kluger approaches, Ray tackles him, sending the gun skidding away. Kluger overpowers Ray and nearly finishes him off with a chair, but Carol grabs the weapon and shoots Kluger twice, killing him. Ray rises, grateful to Carol, and promises to deal with Tony.
The film closes with a quiet, domestic note: Ray talking with Ann about naming their child, and she revealing that only one of the twins will be named Dexter—because they’re expecting twins.
