This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by Vincent Le Roy (@vincentleroy): LE DOSSIER VALMY (Thriller) : Chapitre 18

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Vincent Le Roy (@vincentleroy), a French guy.

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Chapter 18: Plan B

The discussion between Germans will last at least an hour. Meanwhile, our guide tries to establish a dialogue. It's long. Very long. And finally, we are called back. They still are smiling. This time, Archibald takes the hand:

• Vincent, to keep your lab until the end of December, what budget do you need?

In my head everything is jostling. If I tighten the bolts, taking into account the lawyers, it takes 20 bricks. It's short but it's playable. It all depends on what they want in exchange actually. In short, he wants a number so I said without trembling:

• 200,000. (Euros)

• you are sure that with 200,000 you can hold and that if we have this budget, we will not lose everything?

• I'm sure. With two hundred thousand, we hold until the end of December.

• OK, so here's what we offer you: an exclusive cooperation agreement. You only work for us at home and we pay the 200,000 for that. We will explain what we want and tell you will tell us whether it is possible or not. So we get to know each other better, to work together and if it's a success, then we will see to buy the company in December. This may be suitable to you?

• Absolutely! But it takes 100,000 immediately ...

• We will talk about the objectives and write a contract. As soon as it is signed, we send the first 100,000. Is it OK, my friend?

I feel that with Archibald there will be a contract and a moral aspect. Obviously, it is he who insisted not to lose us and he plays his credibility. His sentence is very clear and means he is counting on us not to disappoint him.

• Yes. Twice yes. But what should we work on?

Michael, who until then had been silent and quietly sat up, crossed the room and came to our side. He reaches out to us and says:

• OK, Vincent and Patrick, I think all this is positive, I leave you with Archibald and his teams to define the contract. I will return in the afternoon to see where you are.

• Thank you Michael. Thank you very much.

Archibald modifies the table plan and announces the color. First, he wants us to work with our Polish friend. It's up to us to manage it, he does not want a direct relationship. And for good reason, it is the former technical director of their competitor, he is not allowed to come to their place. Patrick and I are starting to see where he is coming from.

This point accepted, he goes on:

• I want a counter-type of the product of our competitor. A better counter-type and I want to learn how to make the resin. We want the formulas, the know-how and have our own resin.

This first point does not pose any problem. The Polish guy knows well the formulas that he asks us since it was him who had developed them and he will have ideas for the improvements. Patrick is going to work on the resin, it's his specialty. I coordinate and put the suppliers in place.

Archibald insists: this is the heart of the contract. If it is reached, then the 200,000 will be paid and it goes into the technical detail of the desired product. It's okay, he's not too greedy. I ask to call the Pole to inform him. He is delighted. I negotiate with him a monthly package of 5,000 Euros, which in Poland makes a lot of money, plus travel expenses when he comes to Amiens to work a few days a month.

Until then, everything rolls. Archibald tells us that he also wants a second product. There is no obligation of result. He wants to see what we could invent. He wants to measure our creativity. There, it is inevitably more difficult. And his collaborator, Olga, comes out with samples. A small parallelepiped of a few centimeters broken in two. They want a gluing product in the future that has the same technical characteristics as the polyurethane they currently use but in phenolics. In short, they want a product that does not burn. The cost must also be less than 2 Euros per kilo. Personally, I have no idea. This is an unknown domain at VALMY. Patrick smiles in his corner. Speaking very quickly in French so that the Germans do not understand, he tells me:

• It's good, I have an idea. you can accept.

And since we cannot isolate ourselves, I have to trust him. On the one hand, Patrick is anything but an adventurer, if he tells me he has an idea, it's because he already has a lot more. So we confirm the second project. Archibald is delighted, especially since he speaks French fluently but I will discover this point only later. He gets up and warmly shakes our hand to show that it's done. A bit like the city kids who are pecking after a good deal.

He tells us that they will write the contract now and that we can go to lunch with Olga and Petra. The two women execute the orders of their boss but we feel that they are on the reserve. As Archibald is warm, they are cold as ice. Olga is tall and dry, an archetype of the German who comes from the old east side. Before the German reunification, Minova did not exist. There were two companies. One in West Germany and one on the other side of the wall. And when the wall fell, the two companies merged. The West Germans, very rich, bought their competitor and merged everything with the new name MINOVA.

Olga was Archibald's counterpart before reunification. He insisted that she stay and even take her place. In any case, he too has evolved and has been promoted. We feel that she is devoted to him beyond the reasonable. Archibald is a bit like God. If Michael is the CEO, the brain of this company is Archibald. Olga will have to watch our work and our contract. For this, she will rely on the one who runs the laboratories: Petra.

Petra is blond and rather pretty. If I feel she could have a certain charm while smiling, for now, she is even more closed than Olga. They have a mission, they execute it. We feel clearly with Patrick that our two interlocutors will not give us any gift. On the one hand, we understand them. They perceive us as internal competition. Moreover, when I ask if it is possible to visit their laboratory, the answer is not long. It is out of the question. Trust reigns.

Olga is a vegetarian and Petra on a diet. Suffice to say that lunch lacks salt. The atmosphere is heavy. They are very technical and ask us specific questions. We are far from a business lunch where personal parentheses help to humanize relationships.

Back at headquarters, they put us in the room and ask us to wait. As we are finally alone, I take this opportunity to ask Patrick how he intends to go about the second product. Before joining VALMY, he worked on alkaline phenolics. It is a super liquid resin, totally stable and hardens in seconds or minutes with an ester. This kind of resin costs less than 60 cents a kilo. That's a good news! And of course, he has all the formulas. As soon as we are in Amiens, he will make 5 kilos.

Around 6PM, Olga comes to get us. We have an appointment in Archibald's office. Contracts are on the mini meeting table. His charming smile greets us again and he invites us to read the contract. The document is clear and limpid. We polish the technical characteristics with Olga and Archibald. He reprints the final version which he slides into a signature book. It is 7PM and Archibald wishes us a good return. He also tells us that the contract will be signed by Michael tomorrow morning and that everything will be sent through DHL to Amiens for our signature. We just have to sign it, add our bank account information and send it back through DHL as well. Upon receipt, the Germans will send the first money transfer.

The handshake is very warm and I thank Archibald very much for his efforts and I assure him that we will succeed in this first contract. He takes us back to the parking lot and we head back to Paris, with a lighter heart. As long as the contract is not signed, it is not signed. Patrick and I know it very well. We have to wait a few more days ... and in a few days everything can happen. Especially since I still remind myself that I have a traitor on my ship.

Continue to Chapter 19

Introduction
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6
Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12
Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17