Cop Out
by Ellery Queen
Category: Fiction

To escape a manhunt, a gang of killers takes a cop’s daughter hostage After years of toil for Aztec Paper Products, Thomas Howland only makes $112.90 per week. When it comes time for the company to compensate its workers, he is in charge of carrying the payroll: $24,000 in cold hard cash. Eventually, Howland is overcome by temptation. In exchange for a promised cut of the spoils, he hands the payroll over to a gang of thieves—but they reward him with 3 bullets in the heart. The heat is on, and the killers take refuge in the only thing they can: crime. Wesley Malone is a small-town cop, as tough and honest as they come. When the criminals kidnap his daughter as part of a desperate attempt to avoid the law, he feels afraid for the first time—not for himself, but for his little girl. Malone is determined to instill fear in this gang of thugs as well.