Part II, Chapters 2-4 Summary and Analysis

In Part II, Chapter 2, "Change of Plans," Thomas explains that he knows Colonel Mario Toro Lanza through a drug-trafficking contact in the Bolivia city of Santa Cruz. The contact could no longer help Thomas get cocaine through the Santa Cruz Airport because of a U.S.-led crackdown. Thomas already had already bought a five kilograms of cocaine that he needed to sell, so he broke a rule, and accepted Colonel Lanza's name as a trusted contact, even though Thomas had never met Lanza. Thomas describes how he concealed the cocaine in secret compartments in the spines of his custom-made suitcases, after flattening the drugs in a press and wrapping them in plastic, chili power and coffee grounds to confuse sniffer dogs. He also forms 70 grams into plastic-wrapped balls and swallows them. Thomas then tells...