Walter Morrison, working undercover for the U.S. Customs Service, has been in town less than three weeks; but already he's seen evidence of wildlife smuggling, boatloads of exotic species of birds and mammals ferried in the dead of night through the fast-running streams of the Everglades. And what he's seen is only part of a vast criminal enterprise that supplies these rare and endangered species nationwide to pet stores, private hunt clubs, wildlife safari parks and even to highly "respectable" municipal zoos. To make matters worse, someone in his own agency has set the clock ticking on what could be the last seventy-two hours of his life.