Derin awoke to the sound of his cell phone ringing. He grunted in displeasure as he grabbed the phone. It was his best friend Jeff. He and Jeff had been best friends since grade school and though he and his friend had chosen different paths in life; Jeff had become a member of the local mafia and Derin had chosen to become an archaeologist, they remained friends throughout the years.
"What's up," Derin grumbled into his phone after sliding his finger across the screen to answer the call.
"What do you mean what's up," Jeff responded sounding wide awake and fully alert, which annoyed Derin even more. "Today's when you're supposed to help me setup my new sound system. It just came in man, don't flake on me today."
"Right," Derin said as he rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "I'll be there, I just forgot. It was a crazy night last night."
"Cool man, I'm here at my new apartment waiting for you," Jeff said. He paused for an uncomfortable amount of time before speaking again. "See you when you're here man. Gotta go." With that he hung the phone up. Derin looked at the screen as it auto locked and wondered what was going on with his friend now. It was always something. He was always in some kind of trouble.
Not wanting to think about it too much, he got out of bed, took a shower and got dressed. It would be nice to see his friend for a while even if that same friend made him so uncomfortable.
About an hour later Derin got out of the elevator and walked to his friend's new apartment. As he rang the bell, he seen someone move down the corridor on his right, but when he turned to look they were nowhere to be seen. He had an uneasy feeling by it, but before he could think too hard on the subject the door opened.
"Hey man," Jeff called out excitedly. "Thanks for coming over."
"No problem," Derin answered back as he walked into the apartment. Boxes were still stacked along the walls here and there. Jeff had only lived in the apartment for a few weeks and with his busy lifestyle it would probably be a few more weeks until he was completely unpacked.
"So where's this sound system," Derin asked, ready to get to work. He loved that he got payed for the thing he loved the most in the whole world, but his second most passionate hobby was electronics. He built computers in his free time and thoroughly enjoyed hooking up things like Jeff's new sound system.
"Right this way," Jeff said as he guided Derin to a room to the left. "I can't wait to get this baby working man. I'm going to throw some wild ass parties here."
"I bet you are," Derin stated as he eyed the large speakers and wires still in the packaging. This was going to be an easy install. Nothing as complex as he was hoping for, but there was no reason to wait.
"When you going back out," Jeff asked as Derin worked on organizing everything.
"I have a job to explore some ruins in South America, but that's not for a few months," Derin explained as he began connecting the proper wires to the back of the left speaker.
"That's cool," Jeff said as he leaned out of the room and looked down toward the front door.
"Expecting someone," Derin asked,
"No," Jeff said quickly and nervously. "I hope not."
About thirty minutes later and Derin stepped back to admire his work. Everything was hooked up and the wires were hidden nicely.
A few minutes later, Jeff said that he needed to head out somewhere real quick. He promised to return in an hour. Before Derin could say anything in protest, his friend was out the door.
A bit later Derin finished hiding the last wire behind one of the speakers when he heard a thump from the living room. Assuming it was Jeff coming back earlier than stated, he stepped out of the room and started to walk down the hallway toward the living room when someone stepped out in view, causing Derin to stop in his tracks.
A petite and thin woman with long blonde hair and wearing all black stood in his way holding a pistol with what appeared to be a silencer on the end of it. She held a very serious and calm expression, which lead Derin to believe this was no ordinary robbery.
"Where's Jeff," she asked without showing any emotion in her face or her body language. She was cold and calculating.
"He said he had to step out and take care of something," he said to the woman. "He said he'd be back within an hour."
He wasn't sure if the woman was here to kill his friend or to arrange some business with him, but he did know that he wasn't going to get killed for his friend's bad choices.
"We will wait for his return," she stated coldly as she slowly walked toward him. "Step back into that room."
Derin dared not argue with the beautiful potential killer and so he stepped back into the room where he installed the speakers to each side of the TV. She stepped into the room and leaned against the wall, which allowed him to get a better look at her.