Pashkov picked up the phone, dialed the Soviet embassy, and got the chargé d'affaires. "How is your underdeveloped countries fund?" he asked.
"Always depleted, always replenished."
"I don't want any Russian brands."
"Nothing but foreign," the chargé buzzed. "We got almost everything now through an American surplus outlet in Hamburg. Nationals get caught with American goods, Americans get blamed. Wonderful confusion. What do you need?"
"Thirty-o-six two-twenty, three thousand—if you have it."
"Most popular. What else?"
"Pineapples—one crate."
"Only confiscated German potatoes. Will that do?"
"Fine. And a small can of sentimental caviar."
"Too risky."