The Lizard King
The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers
Chapter One
The Argentine Conspiracy
He packed the baby tortoises like diamonds, one to a pocket, and stapled each
pocket closed. When he had ten pockets filled, he lifted the completed length of
cloth and laid it with the others inside a hard-sided suitcase whose walls he
had lined with thick foam. It was to be his last trip of the season, and he
wanted to make the most of it. He repeated the process until all of the
tortoises were packed. The snakes he tied inside pillowcases, and when he was
done, he stuffed his laundry into the suitcase, including a little pink
hairbrush he was bringing home to Miami as a gift.
Time is money. If you counted the time, which is to say if you calculated the
odds that an overworked customs inspector would catch you and multiplied it by
the prison time you would do if you were caught, reptiles were a good bet.
First, nobody got caught; and then even if you did, the penalty was not jail, it
was a parking ticket. Snakes? Find a jury of twelve me ... read full excerpt from The Lizard King ebook
