Until recently, MILITEC Inc. of Rosslyn led a quiet existence, selling a pretty mundane product. The eight-year old company, which has six fulltime employees, markets a synthetic oil that reduces metal-on-metal friction. Because the oil prevents guns from jamming and corroding, weapon owners are steady customers. And U.S. enforcement agencies, such as the Secret Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration, are among MILITEC's repeat buyers. But recently life at MILITEC got exciting—maybe a little too exciting, said Brad Giordani, the company's founder and president. Among MILITEC's enthusiasts, he said, is a group of well-armed guerrillas in the South American jungles of Colombia where the government buys MILITEC-1 for its weapons. The guerrillas made it clear in January that they aren't particularly interested in spending money for the oil. They want it for free and threatened to kill a few of the company's South American distributors if their demands weren't met, company officials said. "They've called and visited some of our people down there a few times in the last few months and said 'You give us the MILITEC and we'll let you live,' Giordani said. "It's sort of flattering on one level. Then again, it's kind of frightening." The MILITEC distributors, who reside in Sogamoso, a town about 174 miles, northeast of Bogota, refused to hand over the product. In part, that's because the guerrillas—part of the communist-leaning Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)—demanded a lot of oil, 15 cases