IBO, Brian R. Lundin [the ebook reader .txt] 📗

beautiful. Eli wore a three-piece man white dashiki and a matching cap.
Askido and Maggie wore an off white caftan with a matching headscarf and Diki, Mack, Billy, and Malik wore matching three-piece multi-colored dashikis. The ceremony itself was limited to the bride and groom; Diki, Malik, Askido, Mack, Maggie and Billy. A tribal shaman, a holy man, conducted the wedding.
After the vows were taken and they were married, four powerful and fierce looking warriors entered the tent and blindfolded Eli and Yolanda; they were led for the first time into their new house. The Dagara believed that a man without a wife is like a man without a house and every newly married couple should start their life together in a new house. Yolanda was led by two of the warriors to the bedroom, where the blindfold was removed. In the room was the Musukebba who undressed and bathed her. After the bath, her body was rubbed down with scented oils and she was dressed in a very sheer nightgown and positioned on the gigantic bed. After the women left, the warriors led Eli into the bedroom and his blindfold was removed. Yolanda awaited him in all of her beauty in their bed where Eli joined her, and they consummated their marriage. There was eating, dancing and traditional music after the wedding and everyone was invited to the reception.
For the next two weeks, the post wedding festival continued and every day there were dancing, singing and tribal games, which included wrestling matches and foot races. The evenings were lit up with fireworks and Malik was happy for Eli and Yolanda, they had each other. All he had was his sister Joyce; his mother and brothers were lost. One morning Malik told her he wanted her to meet Doctor Lumody who was visiting the compound.
”Hi Malik, long time,” the doctor said.
”Hi doc how you doing,” Malik said.
“I would like for you to meet Askido, a good friend of mine,” Malik said looking at Askido.
“How is the research coming?”
“Nice meeting you Askido, the research is going good, since our last conversation we have refined our original product. We have isolated the codeine alkaloid from the opium and we have integrated the seed of the marijuana plant with the codeine.”
“You mean one pill contains codeine and marijuana?” Malik asked.
“Yes,” Doctor Lumody said proudly.
“The effects are the same as heroin, except no needles are required and the high is more intense, but shorter than heroin. Another benefit is that by using the pills it reduces the risk of HIV infections by contaminated needles, and unlike crack which usually has to be heated and smoked, no pipes or other things are needed, only thing that is needed is a glass of water.”
“Is it difficult to produce?” Askido asked.
“No, not at all, we've already extracted the morphine from the opium plant, it a minor step to extract the codeine and mix it with the marijuana seed.”
“We will be going home next week how can I get a sample of the pill,” Malik asked.
“The next batch of morphine I send to our pharmacy in Chicago, I’ll send you a thousand pills.”
“Thanks doc.”
Malik and Askido left Doctor Lumody, on their way back to their house, Malik showed Askido the fields containing “God Plants”, and they discuss the possibility of introducing the new drug on the streets of Chicago.
Later that evening Malik was sitting on the wide couch in the Florida room sipping lemonade when Askido joined him. She was wearing a white short see-through satin robe; her long black hair was lying between her breasts.
“May I join you?” she asked seductively.
“Of course,” Malik answered.
Askido sat down next to him on the couch and lay in his arms. Her scent was intoxicating and he gently kissed her on the neck where she had dabbed on the perfume. Without further word, they kissed for the first time. They moved into the bedroom and as Askido took off the robe the moonlight filtering through the window danced on her brown body, which was beautiful.
For Malik he had always believed that sex should be an expression of love, not raw sex with any feeling or commitment. All of his life he had been exposed to that kind of sex. He had saw his mother giving blowjobs for a hit of crack and he believed that the physical need must be matched with an emotional need and that when these needs came together in tandem between two people then sex would be a world without intrusions or falsities.
Malik slowly kissed her breast as he lay on top of her. She reached up and pulled his lips to hers. It was a long kiss and when he looked into her eyes, he knew that this was the person he had saved himself for. Malik knew that she was the one he wanted to be his first sexual experience. When he entered her they both laid very still enjoying the feel of each other, when their bodies shuddered in unison he had to be still in order to catch his breath.
“I love you Malik,” she whispered into his ear and they both went to sleep.
The following week Malik and Askido left Lagos and returned to Chicago, but Yolanda, Eli, Maggie, Mack and Billy decides to stay a little longer. Pops picked up Malik and Askido at the airport and Malik told him about the new drug.
“Good, let me know when they come in and I will get my guys on it.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Askido said
“Go,” Pops said.
“Why not give out some freebees to see how the hypes respond, while holding back on the crack and heroin. Once they get use to the new thing then we can eliminate the flow of heroin and your guys can start dealing the pills,” Askido suggested.
“Sounds good to me. Smack is getting a little too dangerous and crack is too far out there,” Malik said.
“Damn, I’ve got two brains with me,” Pops said enthusiastically.
A week later, Malik received a call from a small pharmacy on the West Side of the city; the caller told Malik that he had a package for him from Motovo Importers. Malik and Askido pick up the pills and met Pops in the Robert Taylor playground. Malik gave Pops the pills and the plan was implemented.
Two weeks later Pops told his drug dealers that his supplier of heroin and crack had been arrested and they would be dry until he could get another connect. He suggests they start to give a new drug to their customers and see how they like it. The drug was an instant success and the addicts liked the pill. It was safer than using needles, the high was better, and it was easier to use. They started selling the pills for five dollars apiece, Pops have fifty dealers on the South Side of Chicago, and they were paid fifteen percent of what they sold. The pills caught on and the dealers were averaging sales of $5,000 a day, shortly Pops has recruited dealers on the north and West Side of the city and after a year Pops has over five hundred dealers selling the pill, which they gave the street name Ibo.

Chapter 35

Reginald S. Warren Jr. served for two years as a United States Attorney. He had the reputation as being extremely hard on drug dealers and gangbangers, often recommending harsh sentences to drug dealers who were caught with small amounts of drugs. He had become known as “Throw Away the Key,” Warren. Two years later Reginald S. Warren, Jr. ran for his father’s seat in the United States Senate and won by a landslide.
After the death of his mother and father, Senator Warren became obsessed with street gangs and drug dealers. He chaired a senate committee investigating street crime and violence in America and his committee held hearing throughout the country where they interviewed federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, family members of innocent victim of drive-by shootings and reformed gang members and drug dealers. They talked with schoolteacher who told them about drugs being sold in the school hallways, gang intimidation, and recruitment. In closed-door sessions, they interviewed justice department officials who told them of the many federal investigations being conducted on links between the gangs, drug dealers and police departments. Many top law enforcement officials concluded that the drug and gang problem had gotten so bad in the country that they honestly did not believe that it could be contained by traditional law enforcement strategies. They all agreed that the problem had to be addressed.
Meanwhile, Senator Reginald S. Warren, Jr. was very vocal in the Senate relative to the street crimes plaguing the country. He sponsored a bill to increase the penalties for drug offenses and his bill made any amount of a controlled substance punishable by fifteen years in prison for first time offenders, twenty-five years for the second offense and any subsequent arrest was life in prison without parole. The bill passed and was signed by the president, but it did little to deter drug trafficking or gang violence.
For every gangbanger or drug dealer arrested and sent to prison for a long time, there were others waiting to take their place. The senator was disappointed when he read confidential reports from law enforcement agency where they concluded that even with the new law, community awareness and public and school initiatives programs aimed at educating people about the dangers of drugs and gangs, there was no decrease in gang and drug related crimes. In fact, it was estimated that there were over two million Americans on drugs, but he had a plan to get rid of all those little dope dealing gangbangers.

Chapter 36

Pops and Malik had become the leading drug suppliers in Chicago. Heroin, crack, and cocaine addiction had plummeted and Ibo was now the drug of choice, and only Malik and Pops could supply it. It was a hot summer day, the temperature was in the low nineties and there was no wind blowing in the “Windy City.” Pops and Cinque were in the swing in the playground when Malik approached.
“Let’s walk and talk,” Malik said to Pops and Cinque.
The three young men walked to a bench and sat down.
“I think it’s time to change the way we operate. We are the largest operators in the country and our product is everywhere. We are making a lot of money but we have to be careful. Some of our people are getting too way out, buying expensive cars, wearing expensive clothes and jewelry. They are going to bring heat, federal heat, on us if we don’t do something soon,” Malik said.
“What you got in mind, Harvard?” Pops said.
“I think we should disband our thing or reorganize it,” Malik said.
Pops and Cinque looked at each other in disbelief
“Why?” Cinque finally asked.
“Things are getting out of hand. Our young brothers don’t listen to nobody and they are doing drive bys for no reason. Shooting little kids playing outside, robbing and killing each other