Black to the Past

Chapter 54

Halle took the stairs at the back of the house all the way to the basement. Instead of leading to the recreation room, or what used to be the rec room, these stairs led to a hallway that was the entrance to the laundry area. Halle very quietly went as far as she dared where she could hear her father discussing what appeared to be politics with this man.

"Listen, this war is going to happen whether the president wants it or not and while it's going on, we'll smuggle more drugs into the U.S. and flood their neighborhoods with it. Crystal meth mixed with fentanyl and cocaine. They'll drop like flies," the smallest of the men said.

"We've been feeding this into their neighborhood for decades now. It's working. Let's not mess it up," another of the men said.

"I don't want to know what all you have planned. I told you all, keep the drugs away from our neighborhoods. Malcolm knew exactly what to do to get whites to turn on each other. That's happened now. We have an army that's half white and half every other minority race in this country. Besides those men in the government who will turn on the President at the command of Malcolm. We're just waiting for the phone call. Hopefully, Cleveland soil will remain unharmed. Keep those people down at city hall in check," her father told the men. "In fact, why don't you all head down there now. I won't be needing you for anything else tonight."

"Yes, boss," the men agreed.

Halle turned and pressed her body against the wall. She heard the men leaving up the stairs out the side entrance of their home.

She raced back up to her room before her father could get to the first floor. She closed and locked the door. Her heart was racing. Her father, a drug lord?! Impossible! A part of Malcolm X's political party, probable. Using it as a ruse to control an entire population of people, unbelievable. And yet...

Halle needed to reach Wilson back. They had to get back in time and fast. At least now she fully understood what it was that these men did and were a part of. What was the change that made her father a part of that group in this life but not in her other life? She'd have to figure that out or maybe it was one side of the coin. In one life you perform evil, and in one you stand for what's right. What decided anything?