Chapter 14: One Million Francs
After the Americans cut off their grain, France had promised its allies not to fill the gap, so a shipment for the Soviet army could not leave the port openly.
Mr. Roux was feeling troubled. Why was this thug so troublesome? He had already given him such a big discount, and now he wanted trucks and his smuggling contact as well? In all his years, Mr. Roux had only ever smuggled alcohol out. Thousands of tonnes of grain going east was completely new to him.
But there was money to be made here, a lot of it. In the end, he agreed.
While Leon was negotiating with Mr. Roux in the office, Julien was persuading Dmitri to taste the Bordeaux that Mr. Roux kept in his warehouse. Of course, Julien himself was not drinking, as he still needed to drive.
So, Dmitri finished two bottles of Bordeaux alone and got a bit tipsy. He liked it so much that Leon had Mr. Roux add twenty cases of Bordeaux to the order for him to take home.
Leon appeared in front of Dmitri and asked him in English: "Mr. Dmitri, I have tallied all the goods. Do you want to check yourself?"
Dmitri waved his hand. He was seeing double now, how could he check?
Leon then asked: "Mr. Dmitri, how are you going to get all this grain to the ship? I can arrange the trucks and the people at the port for you cheaply."
Dmitri nodded. He thought to himself that this young man was very considerate and took note of such details. As a man of the Soviet Union, he must not take advantage of such a nice person. In addition to the transportation cost, he would also pay him generously.
Mr. Roux took down Dmitri's passport details and started loading the grain onto the trucks to be sent to the quay.
Leon instructed Mr. Roux to just leave the amount blank and only write the type and quantity of goods on the receipt. He explained that this was because this Ukrainian would be claiming the amount from others back home. Mr. Roux smiled knowingly.
Dmitri paid in dollars from the locked case he had brought from his hotel, close to a million of them, worth 4,000,000 francs. After making the payment to Mr. Roux, Leon specially mentioned to him that it was Julien's contact who had asked them to come here. It was up to Mr. Roux whether to reward him.
After Leon passed the receipt to Dmitri, Julien drove Dmitri back to his hotel. Dmitri wanted Leon's contact details, and Julien left him the telephone number of the Blue Ocean. If this Ukrainian came back again, they would be able to make more money.
On the way back to his room, Dmitri shook Leon's hand for a long time, thanking him for his help. Leon accepted it happily. If he had not helped Dmitri, Dmitri might have spent 4,000,000 francs and got only 2,000,000 francs worth of goods. With Leon's help, Dmitri at least got 3,000,000 francs worth of goods, and even got help with the transportation.
"Leon, you really earned a lot on this trip," Julien said after Dmitri entered his hotel room.
"It's not me, it's us. We earned a total of 1,000,000 francs. Each person 500,000," Leon replied.
"No, no, no. All I did was drive back and forth, and it was you who thought of this idea. I cannot take the money." Julien hurriedly waved his hand.
Leon smiled: "Julien, you are my brother. Don't be so calculating. Also, you are the one who told me that the grain merchant had stock he couldn't sell."
"We split it equally. That is final."
Julien looked at Leon for a long moment, then nodded hard. "Alright, Boss. 500,000 each."
Julien was smiling non-stop on the way back. Leon was also very excited. The money in his hands now far exceeded what he had taken from Ferrand's safe.
Leon thought of something and asked Julien, "Do you have a way to buy guns? I want to buy a few for myself."
When you're in a gang, you can encounter danger at any time. How could he not have reliable guns for self-defense?
Leon still had the Colts he had taken from the two assassins and from Ferrand's villa, but he was running low on ammunition for them. To be honest, he had never been accustomed to those guns, and he would rather have something he was familiar with. Now that he had money, he could finally afford it.
"Buying guns? With this kind of money, no problem. Forget about Hugo and his junk. I'll take you to see Karl," Julien said.
The two of them drove to a gun shop in the suburbs. The shop was quite large. As they got out of the car, Julien said, "Karl is also one of our crew's people. He sells hunting guns through official channels and also sells black-market guns. Basically, everyone in the crew who can afford it gets their goods from him."
As he spoke, he pushed open the door, and the two of them walked in.
"Karl, you've got business!" Julien shouted at an old man lying on a recliner.
Karl had gray hair and a big beard. He opened his eyes, got up from the recliner, looked at Julien, then turned to look at Leon and asked, "Who is this?"
"Leon, the new captain in the Opera quarter," Julien introduced.
Karl walked up to Leon, looked him up and down, and asked, "You've been a soldier, right?"
"Yes, Foreign Legion, paratroopers," Leon said.
The old man nodded. "Hmm, I can feel that aura on you. You must have experienced quite a few battles. I was a soldier too, I fought in the last war. I fought for Germany back then, but unfortunately, the country lost. Later, I ended up in the Legion myself, in Indochina, and then I came to Marseille..."
"Karl, Leon wants a few reliable weapons," Julien interrupted him.