Lawbreakers Suspense Stories #13

Sidney Bulwer stands to inherit his uncle's vast fortune—if he can outlast the old man's obsession with rare flowers and endless demands. When Sidney seizes a dark opportunity to hasten Uncle Amos's demise, he thinks himself safe... until mysterious rapping sounds begin to haunt him, and a fortune teller's séance offers him messages he can't explain away. As Sidney's conscience unravels, he discovers that some debts transcend death itself.

Bull Karger, a ruthless killer who's eluded capture for years, is shot down by police on the outskirts of Bentonville and rushed to the hospital so badly wounded that survival seems impossible—yet the wanted man awakens determined to escape the noose he's sworn he'll never face. With officers distracted and a single intern standing watch, Karger seizes his chance to slip through the hospital's grip before justice can catch up with him.

Ned Brent takes a contract killing job for the syndicate—three hundred dollars to push a target onto the tracks before an uptown express arrives. But when he makes his move at the station, a violent struggle erupts, and Brent finds himself caught in a deadly trap of his own making as the train bears down. A cold-blooded scheme spirals into something far worse than the hired gun ever bargained for.

After six years of his wife Emma's relentless nagging about tidiness, Charlie Noonan hatches a meticulous plan to finally free himself—one involving an explosive device and a carefully timed alarm clock. But in a cruel twist of fate, his own scheme springs a trap he never saw coming. A darkly ironic tale of how even the best-laid plans can blow up in your face.

Lester Kincaid executes a brazen heist at the Museum of Antiquities, snagging the priceless Ruby of Ravenna—but when a guard nearly catches him mid-theft, he scrambles for cover inside what he believes is a suit of armor. What Kincaid doesn't realize is that the metal enclosure has a far more sinister purpose, and the museum's ancient mechanisms are about to seal his fate in a way no getaway plan could prevent.

Two partners at the Allied Drug Company—Herb Dean and Abner Benson—spiral into mutual suspicion when each discovers the other may expose their crimes: Dean's dangerous tampering with a shipment of Ambutal, and Benson's theft of $10,000 through fraudulent substitutes. As paranoia and fear of betrayal mount, both men plan a deadly reckoning for the same night, each convinced the other is about to go to the police. When they finally confront each other, the carefully laid plans collide in an unexpected way that forces a bitter irony neither saw coming.

After robbing the Moosejaw Trading Post, Lars Andre flees across the frozen north, setting a deadly trap in the ice to stop anyone who might follow his trail. When a tracking party, guided by Alison, pursues him across the glacier, they discover that Andre's own cunning scheme has backfired in the most ironic way possible.