Claire and Nathalie sat down on the sofa, their emotions gradually stabilizing, but their eyes kept glancing towards the back.
"Excuse me, who was that handsome guy just now? The one who took down four people by himself?"
"He's so impressive!"
Unlike Claire, who was quiet and reserved, Nathalie couldn't help but call over a waiter and ask him questions.
The waiter was also proud: "That's our boss, of course he's impressive!"
"What's his name? How old is he?"
While Nathalie was gathering information about Leon in the front of the bar, Leon was also pressing Bruno for details in the back room.
His henchmen were separated and detained, and they soon spilled everything.
"You're from the Mercier Crew?"
Leon was somewhat surprised, because the Mercier Crew and the Garnier Crew both belonged to the Syndicate, and its influence was no less than that of the Garnier Crew.
Normally, the two only maintained a superficial brotherly relationship, but they secretly tried to trip each other up a lot.
Unexpectedly, while the Garnier Crew and the Santoni Clan were locked in a fierce battle, the Mercier Crew was also trying to take advantage of the situation.
"That's right, Baron sent us!"
Under the threat of losing his precious treasure, Bruno spilled everything.
According to him, it was Victor Baron, a boss of the Mercier Crew, who had ordered them to do it.
They were to pass themselves off as Santoni men and cause trouble, making the Garnier Crew fight even harder against the Santoni Clan.
Victor Baron's position in the Mercier Crew was the same as Gaston Vidal's in the Garnier Crew; besides the leader, they were the highest-ranking members.
However, what truly interested Leon was the name Victor Baron.
The leader of the United Crews!
"After midnight, Marseille is mine!"
Extremely arrogant!
Leon knew this man from his past life. Victor Baron had been a huge drug boss in France, so notorious that news reports and even movies were made about him.
But all of that came much later in his career. Right now, he was still far from the peak of his power.
Suddenly, Leon understood: the United Crews were simply the Garnier Crew, the Mercier Crew, and the Fabre Crew put together!
These three crews were all veteran factions within the Syndicate, having existed since the very beginning of its establishment.
Although Victor Baron was just a boss in the Mercier Crew right now, it seemed he would do very well in the future!
He would not only become the leader of the Mercier Crew, but also merge the three crews into the United Crews.
Ambitious!
Baron's use of the Santoni Clan to weaken the power of the Garnier Crew might well be a prelude to his future actions.
After figuring things out, Leon prepared to go back.
In the next room, Dmitri had just had his head bandaged. As soon as he saw Leon come out, he walked over to him angrily.
"How is your head?" Leon smiled, speaking in English.
His men had told him that this foreigner did not understand a word of French. Fortunately, Leon could communicate with him in English without any difficulty.
"You are with them! Your men knocked me down from behind and kicked me on the ground, and now you lock me in here. You are all the same gang!" Dmitri said while holding on to Leon's arm.
Leon immediately explained: "The men who beat you are tied up in the next room. They belong to another crew and came here to cause trouble in my bar. My men are the ones who pulled them off you, carried you in here and bandaged your head. You can go and ask around."
"Is that so? Then I might have misunderstood you," Dmitri said and loosened his grip. He remembered now that the last thing he had seen from the floor was this young man knocking those thugs down one after another.
He sat down heavily and touched the bandage on the back of his head.
"Those bank people! All afternoon they smiled at me and called me their friend, and they invited me to drink with them. Then a woman from their own office is dragged away in front of them, and not one of them moves. I am beaten on the ground, and not one of them moves. Cowards! I thought they were my friends!"
Leon nodded. He had seen it too.
Then he asked curiously, "You are from the Soviet Union, aren't you? I can hear it in your accent. What is a Soviet man doing down here in Marseille?"
It was 1980, and it was rare to meet a Soviet citizen walking around freely in the south of France.
"My name is Dmitri. I am from Kiev, in Ukraine. I am a businessman," Dmitri replied. "I am here in France to acquire some necessary items on behalf of the Soviet army."
Leon's eyes lit up.
This Dmitri seemed to be a big shot! Buying goods on behalf of the army was a very lucrative job, and a man trusted with it must have powerful connections behind him.
Such a man was worth befriending.
"Mr. Dmitri, if I am not wrong, you still have a lot of rubles with you? You went to the bank today, but I doubt they changed much for you. If you are going to buy things here, it will be more convenient and cheaper if you are using francs. I can exchange your rubles for francs for a small transaction fee."
Leon was not after the fee from someone like Dmitri. He had other ways to earn money from him.
Dmitri raised his brows and replied calmly: "Transaction fees? There are no transaction fees if I go to the bank."
"Banks do have transaction fees and you still need to queue. Also, you can't exchange large amounts at the bank. Mr. Dmitri, don't you agree that it is more convenient to use francs in France?" Leon said.
From Dmitri's reply, Leon knew that Dmitri wanted to exchange rubles for francs.
"How much can you exchange and how much is the transaction fee?" Dmitri asked.
"The rate is 1 ruble to 4 francs. The extra is my transaction fee. I can exchange 20,000 rubles for you now. Anything more than 20,000 rubles will have to wait one or two days," Leon replied. A man who bought on behalf of an army must be handling far more than this. Leon wondered how big Dmitri's business really was.