The rest of the Burma trip was uneventful. A day spent drinking beer in Taunggyi, followed by another night at The Loft (and more beer drinking) in Yangon. But a couple of days later we were back in the Penh and Chamreun was mostly absent from the house while he put all his plans into place and cajoled his superiors into fronting him $2 million in cash.
When he was around, he would drag me back out to rural areas for more target practice. He kept emphasising that this was a big step up from our previous outing and that we had to be ready for anything. But he also made it clear that I was very much last man in to wherever the Shan were based. There would be a six-man squad plus Chamreun carrying out the mission, with me as backup … or hiding until any shooting stopped.
We would also all b
