Peppermint

Chapter 23 - Fire Escape

***GABE***

"Maybe now you'll let me do a little bit of that light-virus purging?" Kaufman asks me, sounding uncharacteristically concerned.

"Maybe," I say. "But only 'cause I'm too scared of what'll happen if you don't. Pros and cons to weigh and all that shit." I kneel next to Harris, who's finally starting to stir back up to the land of the after-living. "Buddy? Come on, tell me you're okay."

He reaches up with two fingers. "Haha, these were on your other cheeks, like, an hour ago..."

Aditya grimaces at the thought. "Yeah, he's awake."

"Barely." I take Harris' hand and lower it to the floor, then help him sit up. "Harris, I'm so-"

"Sorry? You shouldn't be, 'cause that wasn't you, Sweaty Elf Boy."

Behind my back, I hear Kaufman pretending to gag. And I'm supposed to let that guy touch my face? Well, beggars can't be bloody choosers. I incline my head just enough to let him reach up and finally do the virus-purging thing. It makes my head vibrate horribly, but only for a second. I just have to treat it like getting a shot - a necessary bit of pain.

"Should you do the same for TJ?" I ask Kaufman when he's done working on me. "Just in case."

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do. Though if I run this kind of current through his head when there's nothing in there to chase out, the effects might be a little unwanted."

"Unwanted like how?" asks Yash.

"Something like...let's just say, you know how pharmaceutical companies do drug tests?" Kaufman asks. "They sometimes pay healthy people to take their pills."

"You say that like it's not done around these parts," Javi says pointedly.

"There's not nothing in his head," I say. "TJ? You okay with getting a brain cleaning?"

"How thorough? If I lose the ability to ride a bike-"

"You won't." Kaufman raises his hands, ready to go. "I may be a blunt instrument, but not when it comes to shit like this."

While he gets to work on my cousin, I sit back next to Harris and embrace him, kissing his cheek gently. "I'm so sorry-"

"What do you gotta be sorry for?" he says forcefully. "Seriously, I don't need you to feel that way. You're a good man, Gabe Snow."

"Then don't tell me that like I'm Charlie Brown."

"Done," Kaufman announces to the room at large. "So we're all safe from this guy's brain virus. Now what?"

"Let's think," says Aditya, tapping his chin. "We're dealing with a dangerously gifted technopath. What's the best way to get to him without him getting the drop on us?"

"Without tech," says Yash.

"Gee, thanks for answering my rhetorical question."

"You're missing the point," I tell Yash. "How much do we have to de-techify ourselves if we're to approach him?"

"What?" TJ gasps. "Who says we're actually gonna-"

"I dunno about you..." Kaufman's voice trails off as he stares up to the ceiling. "But you know what? I could do with getting to know some of this asshole's secrets. Personally, I never thought he had any worth giving up till now-"

"Then what the hell were we doing keeping him here?" Javi asks pointedly.

Kaufman crosses his arms. "Just following orders."