In his younger days, Knight had found that strippers were the most reliable sources of cocaine when traveling in the States. And he suspected that the women here might be running a similar side hustle selling illicit aphrodisiacs to horny miscreants. And their supply would undoubtedly be coming from the syndicate that ran their place of business.

The girl pulled a small gray chunk of what appeared to be wood out of her bag and handed it to Knight. “Rhino horn. Here, we say women are like locks and men are the key. This will make you the master key.” The other girl added seductively, “You can open all the locks.”

Knight took the chunk and placed his cell phone flashlight behind it. As the light bled through the horn, it turned a warm yellow. Knight also took note of the long, symmetrical lines of the fiber pattern visible in his makeshift X-ray.

He handed the horn back, unimpressed. “This is water buffalo.” Just as oregano sometimes masqueraded as marijuana, and baking soda got sold as cocaine, water buffalo was commonly used to scam customers who thought they were buying genuine African rhino horn. It was an especially effective gambit because both products had exactly the same medical efficacy—namely, the placebo effect.

The girl with the water buffalo horn glanced at the other girl, who hesitated, wondering whether to give this outsider the real thing. Knight sensed her apprehension and flashed some more cash. The girl then pulled from her purse a baggie of powder with a dragon stamp. Her body language alone—as if she were holding something radioactive—told Knight he was being offered the real deal.

He rubbed a pinch of powder in his fingers and smelled it. It had the vague aroma of what could only vaguely be described as toenails.

In recent years, Knight had overseen the removal of horns at zoos his company insured. The increase in the demand and price for rhino horn had led to a rash of break-ins at zoos throughout the United States and Europe, where thieves would try to harvest the horns from zoo animals. To discourage the raiders, the zoos had begun sedating their rhinos and using chainsaws to remove the horns. Though the process looked savage, it did no damage to the rhino, beyond a minor hangover. The chainsaws would cast off a shower of shavings that looked and smelled identical to the powder in Knight’s fingers.

Satisfied, he placed the bag of horn in his jacket pocket and peeled off a few bills to pay the women for the contraband. Then, to the confusion of the prostitutes, he rose and departed. He had his theory about how the Caucasian man fit into Wan’s operation, and wanted to test it as soon as possible.