Peppermint

Chapter 16 - White Lightning

***ALEX***

On the front of the other car, Josh climbs up and kicks through the Plexiglas. I'm surprised to see him smash through it in one hit - even though he's doing it with both feet, and he's got some supernaturally strong legs because of course he does. I keep having to wonder how much of that is good Godly genes and how much is from walking around the Holy Land, preaching love above all else. (Yeah, and look where that got this multiverse. Seriously, do not enough people fucking listen to what Josh is really all about?)

"You say something?" Josh's voice, strangely calm, surprises me as I climb through the window myself, and I almost fall and faceplant on the floor on the other side.

"No..." I let my voice trail off for a moment. "I mean, I don't think I did."

"It's all right." He pulls the flash drive out of his pocket. "Now...anyone in here have a laptop we can borrow?" The small number of people seated all look at us blankly. "Well," Josh drawls, "don't everyone all get up at once, am I right? I get it, you're all paralyzed by fear..." He moves forward, approaching the crowd. "Don't worry. So am I. Metaphorically speaking. But, uh, seriously, a laptop would really help me out right about now, so..."

Finally, a middle-aged woman, about my mom's age, stands up and, while holding onto the nearest support pole with a one-handed death grip, starts unclasping her messenger bag. "It's a little old," she says. "Will that do?"

"It's not too old to have a USB port, is it?"

She nods.

"Then yeah, it'll do. Alex, help her out while I get the drive ready."

I start for a second, then lunge forward, almost falling flat on my face as I'm moving backwards relative to the train. But I get up quickly and take the woman's laptop so she can sit down and adjust the weave that's been flying in her face. Josh waits until I open the laptop up, but then we hit a roadblock. I turn around and say, "We need your password."

The lady holds out her hands, and Josh and I turn around for a moment. "You're in," she says, handing the laptop back to me.

"Beautiful." Josh nods to the laptop's screen - the wallpaper being a very tasteful high-def image of purple flowers in a field. "Let's plug this baby in...hope Ahmad knows what he's doing. Speaking of which..." He unlocks his phone and pushes it into my hand as he puts the flash drive in its place. "Call Ahmad. He's gonna need to walk us through this shit, unless we can get AK to fly him over here? No, but then he'd be leaving Firdaus with my dad-"

"You say that like I can't defend myself," says Firdaus' voice.

"No, no, no, I'm not-"

"Just kidding," Firdaus laughs. "Okay, are you in? Ahmad wants to know."

"Why do you have his..." I begin before realizing she must have Ahmad's phone for the same reason I have Josh's right now. "Never mind."

"Put on a video call," Ahmad orders us. "If I can't actually see what you guys are doing, how am I gonna walk you through it properly?"

"Text us?" Josh suggests.

I shake my head. "Ever seen Person of Interest? That's a terrible idea."

Josh smiles. "Yeah, no shit." He shifts into a Fusco voice. "'Curly brace? What the hell's a-'"

"Just follow my lead!" Ahmad says.

"All right, all right..." I press the button to open a video call between us. "Walk us through it, then."

"Open the command line," Ahmad says. "Then start typing in..." He rattles off some code, which Josh dutifully inputs after a small window opens, revealing a window of solid black with green text.