the Shan State of Myanmar, a semiautonomous region in the heart of Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle. Shan, which for decades had been rife with armed conflict, was a central hub in the region's bountiful opium crop and its production of yaba, the regional form of methamphetamine. Klaussen's source, he told Le Roux, was looking for weapons that could take down helicopters con- ducting surveillance on behalf of the local authorities. “They gave me the details on the helicopter,” he said. “It's the U.S. Black Hawk, and the UH-53, that's bothering them.”

Le Roux's reaction revealed just how far his own contacts in the international arms underground now extended. The shoulder- launched missiles they needed could be easily obtained, he said. “Actually it will be cheap, coming directly from the factory,” Le Roux said. “The thing is like this: The Russians don't talk on the phone. They are flying to the Philippines to see my guy.”

“They are good to go with the Russian thing,” Klaussen said. “They are willing to pay more because they have a certain urgency level.”

“They have surplus ones being sold from Libya in Lebanon,” Le Roux suggested. “Lebanon is the main area where this shit is being moved. They can get used ones there, if they want. But the prob- lem is to transport them.”

Le Roux spoke slowly and confidently when hashing out the myriad details of these arms deals: prices, sources, training, ship- ping arrangements. The South China Sea was a better shipping route than the Bay of Bengal, he noted, avoiding the heavily mon- itored Strait of Malacca. As to accomplishing the ultimate aim for the weapons, he was happy to offer his advice. “What they need to do is, they need to wait until they are, like, hovering a little close to the ground,” he said. “The thing is, they won't fucking expect it. Once the Americans lose some fucking pilots? They won't think twice. You've only got to take one or two down. You don't have to take the whole fleet.”

With that, Le Roux was on to other business. “I want to run one thing by you,” he said. “I sent a guy to Iran about two years ago.