An exciting week for you action fans as Mark Trail flew to Nashville (that was a bit of action); was picked up and driven by Agent Ray Gunn (more action) to an undisclosed location outside of town; and using a form of transportation not made known to us (implied action), met up with Agent Gunn outside of the targeted Reptile Roadhouse, suspected of long-term dealing in the sale and distribution of illegal reptiles. Whew! Now, that was a lot of action for one week! But it continued.

Mark appeared surprised and disappointed to find out he was going to help work an undercover sting operation, rather than simply bust the doors down and beat a confession out of the owner. I reckon this is one of those contradictions that Jules Rivera tries to work with: A pro-environmental dude with upstanding morals for justice and fair play who still likes to have at it and beat the snot out of his opponents. Well, such is the usual makeup of most heroes and anti-heroes, with the balance tipping one way or the other, as needed. Except that the anti-hero is not above terminating the opponents, whereas the regular hero is content to simply render them senseless so they can be incarcerated or escape to fight another day.

The undercover operation is for Mark to show up at the store and try to buy one of those exotic, illegal reptiles. Simple? Agent Gunn must be desperate to show any progress after six years of work if he is depending on Mark. Mark will pretend to be a record producer, so he was dressed like a 1950s Grand Ole Opry country singer, complete with his cowboy hat.

So Mark strode into the store and immediately announced he was here to make a “special order.” Just like that. No attempt to build a personal or sales relationship first. Just a cold call at a criminal enterprise. This should work out really well for Mark.

Mark is being diplomatic. Nile Monitors are aggressive, violent, and not given to being your typical home pet. They are carnivorous, but not venomous. Still, nobody would want to be sliced and diced by their sharp claws and teeth. So it is remarkable that anybody would want to buy one for a personal pet, unless it was chained outside to deal with stray animals and other creatures that might wander into your yard. They do not make good pets if you are looking for companionship. Mark’s review of Monitor culinary preferences is a bit short. They will also eat turtles, snakes, lizards, birds, rodents, and your pet cat; in short, just about whatever it can catch.

Of course, when Mark talks about Monitors thriving in “habitats in the Southern US”, he likely means Florida, the US capital of abandoned invasive (and dangerous) animals. Disposing of unwanted exotic pets may be one of the favorite reasons for Florida tourism.