Black to the Past

Chapter 34

"Well, this ain't the DeLorean," Wilson tried joking.
"Yeah, here goes nothing, right," Halle said looking deep into Wilson's eyes. It was now or never.
"Record the time," Wilson reminded her. Halle plugged the time down to the second into the notes feature at the same time Wilson pressed the button that actuated the time machine.
They held hands as they pushed through time feeling like their bodies were being squeezed through a vacuum and sucked into space. It took about two minutes for the feeling to leave their bodies. Once the feeling was gone Halle and Wilson were finally able to look at one another. They looked exactly the same. Unbuckling their body straps, Wilson was the first to test his legs. Feeling a little unsteady he waited until he felt as if the ground felt like it was under him. Helping Halle up she was more unsteady than he had been, so much so, that she fell into his arms.
Wilson was afraid that Halle had fainted or worse her heart had collapsed on her. He laid her on the floor of the time machine. He felt her chest for a heartbeat. He leaned his head over her nose to feel for her breathing. Everything was as it should be so he started shaking her.
"Halle! Halle wake up! Wake up, Hal!"
Tears were welling up in Wilson's eyes. He didn't know what to do. The great professor hadn't prepared him for what would happen if someone didn't make it through to the other side of the past. Wilson started to cry. He should have never made them go. He'd promised her that he would protect her and he couldn't even get her to the other side. His tears dropped over Halle's face right as she started to wake up.
"Dude!" Halle said wiping her face from the waterfall that had hit her. "Are you crying?"
"No!"
Wilson swiped at the tears on his face as he stood up and turned away from her. He was embarrassed to know that she made him weak to the point of tears.
"Help me up, please. I feel very weak. What happened?"
"You passed out," Wilson yelled at her.
"Is that why you were crying," she asked him in a soft voice.
"I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you, Halle," he told her honestly as he helped her stand up.
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, "I'm okay."
Wilson nodded. The gesture of the simple kiss was so sweet he felt warmth climbing up his neck into his cheeks.
"Let's get out of here," she suggested.
They slid the door open and stepped into the same room that housed the time machine except there was no one outside to greet them. They had to have gone back in time. Climbing the spiral stairs, going through the basement and into the main house they searched for the newspaper that the professor promised would be on the table to alert them of the date. It was a habit that was started by the very first scientists who traveled back in time. Everyday they'd place the daily newspaper on the table so that whoever traveled through time could simply check the paper for the date.
It was exactly three weeks from when they'd left. It was almost nine o'clock. Her father had left the house around nine-thirty.
"We've gotta get to my house so we can follow him," Halle remembered.
"Okay, but Halle, are you sure you're ready for the truth," Wilson asked her.
"Yes, I've got to find out what's going on. And if I can do anything to stop the bitch from messing up my happy home, I will."
Wilson was taken aback. The look in Halle's eyes seemed almost feral. She'd lost something precious, he understood, she wanted it back.
The professor had left the keys to a black Jeep 4x4. The windows were lightly tinted. Halle got in the driver's seat, pulled out, and headed towards her home. She arrived with fifteen minutes to spare. Positioning the car several houses down so that she couldn't be seen, she parked, and waited.
"Have you ever thought that maybe he isn't having an affair?"
"Why would he be gone all night, then," Halle wanted to know.
"I don't know. But maybe, just maybe it's something else. All men don't cheat, Halle," Wilson told her.
"I didn't say they did, but I remember the fight they had when he came home that next morning. It was awful. He looked disheveled. Something was wrong. My mother was very upset. She told him that she knew he was cheating on her. My dad hasn't really worked late nights since he was a lawyer. As a judge, he ends court on time, then comes home to be with us. We're tight! Tiggedity tight, Wilson."
"Here he is," Wilson told her as he noticed her dad's car pulling out of the driveway. "Wait until he goes past the stop sign before you pull off."
"Okay."
As soon as her father was past the stop sign another car turned the corner and got behind him.
"Shit," Halle said.
"No, this is good. We'll stay behind this car then he won't have noticed us, even once we get to where he's going."
"You're right," Halle said relieved.
As she followed her dad's car from a distance she noticed that the black sedan with the darkly tinted windows was also following her father. Every turn he took, every pause, every stop, the black car followed.
"Now it seems like we're following this car," Halle told Wilson. "Something's not right."
"Yeah, back off a minute," Wilson suggested. "Switch lanes. See if you can get between the two cars."
Halle tried what Wilson was suggesting but the sedan was sticking to her father's car like glue. The cars went down Cedar hill, towards downtown. Turning off 55th street they headed to the lake. Halle kept a healthy distance checking her own rearview mirror to ensure that no one was following her.
The cars didn't stop until they arrived at Lake Erie. The rocks her father took her to when she was sad and needed a pick me up. He'd driven right to that site. She drove past so as to pretend that she'd been heading past the lake herself. Wilson kept an eye on the cars to make sure they'd parked. Halle went down a ways before making a u-turn.
They saw her father getting out of his car and out of the sedan were four of the largest men that they'd ever seen.
One of them punched her father in the stomach right away.
Halle screamed. It was loud enough to attract the attention of one of the men. Fortunately, Wilson was thinking quickly and grabbed Halle's head down into his lap and he tucked his head over hers. Shushing her, willing her to calm down. Wilson dared to look up. The men were no longer paying them any attention and were leading her father away towards the water.
"Halle, this is serious. We need to call the police," Wilson advised her.
"No, we need to get close enough to hear what's going on. Something's wrong. We have to help him," Halle cried.
"Halle, do you see the size of those men? We don't have any weapons. We can't beat them and I know your father wouldn't want you in harms way. Was your dad working on any cases that were notorious?"
"He always is. There's always some drug dealer, or murderer. He's had death threats before," Halle told him.
"This must be something related to his work. You stay here," Wilson told her but she pulled on his arm.
"NO!"
"Halle, you can't be seen. If this has something to do with him being a judge you better believe they may be threatening his life, or the life of his wife and kids."
"Wilson, you know how in the movies, they split up and something horrible happens?"
"This isn't the movies, Halle. This is real life and I can't risk them seeing you. I can casually be climbing the rocks and try to overhear what's going on," Wilson tried reasoning with her.
"That's a bad idea. They may shoot you on principle alone just for eavesdropping. It'd be nothing for them to grab you and throw your body in the lake. No, Wilson."
"Okay, okay. Your dad has an Apple watch right?"
"Yeah, so."
"Which series?"
"The latest one, duh."
"Okay, me too. Text him to turn the walkie talkie feature on to my number."
"What makes you think they'll let him activate his phone or check his messages?"
"Doesn't he keep his notifications on?"
"Yeah, but you're not programmed in there," Halle told him.
"I think I am. Remember when we were at the hospital? He texted me and thanked me for taking care of you."
"He did? Why didn't you tell me that?"
"There was nothing to tell. I didn't think anything of it."
"Okay, but what if that makes too much noise?"
Wilson sat thinking. He looked around the car. Opening the glove box he saw a kit.
"What is it," Halle asked.
"It's an amplifying device. Come on," Wilson said hopping out of the car. He didn't know how close he had to be but he put the earphones to his ears and pointed the amplifier in the direction of where the men had taken Halle's father.
Once he started hearing voices he found a car they could sit hidden behind. He set the amplifier on the ground and put the earphones between him and Halle's ears. Halle fought back tears when all she heard was the thudding sound of punches. Her father was coughing and gagging. He was being beaten badly.
"That's enough," they heard a gruff voice through the speakers.
"Give him a minute," another voice said.
"Now. Have you re-thought your position," a man asked him.
Her father was remaining silent.
"Hit him again, boss," a high-pitched voice asked.
"No!"
Wilson and Halle were surprised at the high-pitched voice since all the men who'd exited the car were beefy men that looked tough enough to fight anyone. They couldn't picture who would possess such a high pitched tone of voice.
"You're going to acquit DeMarcus no matter what the jury says," the first voice told her father.
"And if I don't," her father coughed out.
"Your daughter would be real good in bed I bet," the second voice they'd heard said.
Halle had to put her fist to her mouth.
"She's real cute, especially when she's wearing those thin little leggings she seems to love so much," the man said with laughter in his voice.
"You think? She's too skinny for my taste, but your wife," the first man said. "She's a real banger. I'd fuck her long and hard. Think she could handle all this after dealing with your scrawny ass? She'd get used to it."
"That's my family you're talking about," the judge said sickened by the mention of his daughter and wife being talked about as if they were whores.
"If you want to keep your family intact you will acquit DeMarcus. Do you understand," the first man told him.
"That's not how the system works," the judge said trying to reason with them. "If the jury comes back saying he's guilty they will be awaiting a sentence."
"And that's when you're going to not be satisfied with the evidence presented," a fourth voice, deep and serious informed her father.
"We can sit out here beating you all night, or you will understand what we're saying right now. You look bad, judge. I'd hate for your wife to think you're out cheating on her. I think disrupting your household is the exact thing we need to do, what do you guys think?"
Another punch.
"Tie him up."

"What do you think is going to happen next," Halle asked Wilson.
"I don't know but let's hurry up back to the car," Wilson said picking up the equipment and grabbing Halle up. "Don't look back, Halle."
Halle and Wilson ran back to the Jeep which they'd parked on the far end of the parking lot. Halle kept her back to the parking lot where her father and the other cars were parked. Wilson kept his eyes on the lot. "They're putting him back in his car. It's bad. It looks like they've drugged him, or knocked him out or something."
"Hang on, don't look yet. They're leaving."
Wilson waited until the car had pulled out of the drive and pulled off. He waited another five minutes past that to ensure that they weren't returning anytime soon before he nodded that it was okay for Halle to look. Turning she could see her father was in his car. He didn't look alert.
She hopped out of the car and ran to her father. Wilson was right on her heels. She opened the car door and checked his breathing. It appeared as if he were drugged. His hands were tied behind his back. He looked roughed up. Now Halle understood why he'd come home the next morning. Halle untied his hands and kissed his cheeks. "I'll fix this dad. I promise if it's the last thing I do, I will fix this."

To the exact second, Wilson and Halle returned. Professor Harold slid the door open.
    "Hey, they never left," Meredith said.
    Professor Harold looked into Halle's eyes and knew that she had indeed left and was changed for the worse because of it. He'd hoped there was some way he could have spared her the pain of what she'd witnessed by going back in time, but Professor Harold knew the future and knew that he couldn't spare this child the pain that was to come.