Chapter 13: Rubles and Grain
Dmitri looked at Leon, who was not carrying any bag, and asked: "You can exchange 20,000 rubles now?"
Leon pointed to the office at the end of the corridor: "In the safe." Seeing Leon pointing over, Julien, who was standing by the door, hurriedly waved back.
"OK, I'll change 20,000 rubles. But the money is in my hotel room. I will have to go and get it," Dmitri said.
Leon clenched his fist tightly. It seemed that the cash from Ferrand's safe would not be sitting idle for long.
When they walked out through the front of the bar, it was empty. The two women who had stayed behind on the sofa had already left.
Julien drove them to the hotel. The transaction went smoothly in the car, and before getting out, Dmitri asked Leon where he could buy grain in quantity. Leon was ecstatic. Dmitri was letting him earn more money!
Leon asked Julien in French: "Julien, do you know where to buy wheat and flour in quantity?"
In this era, the Soviet Union was badly short of grain. The Americans had cut off their grain sales at the start of the year over the war in Afghanistan, and Soviet buyers were looking everywhere else for it.
"I know a man who works at a grain merchant's silos by the docks. I heard that he has some stock which is not selling well. How much does this Ukrainian want?" Julien replied.
Leon whispered to Julien: "Control your facial expression and don't show any sign of happiness. Try to look like you are in a difficult position. He wants to use up all 80,000 francs."
If not for Leon, Julien would certainly have jumped up excitedly. But now he had a troubled look on his face.
"Is it difficult to get this grain?" Dmitri asked in English, embarrassed. He had not understood a word of what the two had said. Looking at the troubled look on that driver's face, it must be hard to get it.
Leon replied: "No. We have the connections, but we need help from his contact at the docks. So, there will be some extra cost."
"I understand. But I'm flying back to Kiev the day after tomorrow. So make it fast."
"No problem! Let's meet up tomorrow morning," Leon said happily.
The next morning, Julien drove them directly to the grain merchant's silos by the docks to find his contact. On the way, Dmitri told Leon that the 80,000 francs were only for his own expenses. The real purchase for the army would be paid in dollars, and what he needed was not a few sacks but thousands of tonnes. Leon had already told Julien that this trip would let them earn a lot of money, but even he had not expected this much.
After meeting up with Julien's contact, Leon found out that the merchant had a lot of stock, especially wheat and flour.
Learning that Julien had brought a big Soviet client to the silos, the owner came down personally. His name was Mr. Roux. On paper he was a grain merchant, but he was entangled with the gangs, and for years his real money had come from smuggling alcohol to the United States. Mr. Roux was arrogant and impatient, especially after he learned who would be negotiating with him. He knew these two. They were just low-level gangsters from the Opera quarter, and what could people like that understand about commerce?
Mr. Roux said: "All of this is sold together, the old barley and the damp maize with the wheat. Take it or leave it."
"Mr. Roux, it seems the deal is off. I believe I can get grain elsewhere. You are not the only merchant on these docks."
Mr. Roux became anxious when he saw Leon leaving with the foreigner. Leon was right. Other than his silos, grain was also available from the other merchants along the port. Mr. Roux had just wanted to sell off the stock nobody wanted, but he found out that it was not easy to cheat this young man. This young man was not afraid of him.
"Wait, I will take some of it out?" Mr. Roux said.
"No, we will choose the goods ourselves. Also, this is a very big order and you have to give us a discount. We are very busy. If you don't agree, we will go elsewhere."
A merchant like Mr. Roux never gave anything away for free, but a discount on an order of this size was something he could accept.
"OK. But you have to buy more flour." He had a lot of flour left. He had milled it for a buyer who had backed out, and it would not keep forever.
"No problem," Leon said.
Leon then explained to Dmitri in English that because he was buying in such large quantities, the merchant needed to bring in grain from other places. As such, the grain might be a little more expensive. However, the merchant was willing to arrange everything else for him as compensation.
Dmitri was happy. He knew that if he were to buy this grain himself, it would cost several times more, if anyone would sell to a Soviet buyer at all. But now, it only cost a bit higher, and everything would be arranged for him.
Dmitri had only wanted to buy wheat and flour initially. But now, he added sugar and cooking oil as well. In the end the order came to 3,000 tonnes of wheat and 500 tonnes of flour, with the sugar and oil on top.
After some negotiations between Leon and Mr. Roux, Mr. Roux agreed to a bigger discount. This was mainly because Dmitri was purchasing 3,000,000 francs worth of merchandise. Furthermore, he would be making a loss if the flour spoiled.
"Wait a minute, Mr. Roux. We are unable to move this grain ourselves, as we only came in one small car. You need to send several trucks to haul it to the quay for us. And this cargo cannot go through customs. You have a man who gets your bottles out to America. I want him to get this grain out to Odessa."