CHAPTER TEN: A New Roommate

HOW he had managed to drag an unconscious girl through the streets of Westlands, alleyways and using a taxi, Derek had no idea.

He had never been more relieved when the door to his apartment swung open after which he hastily locked it shut before gently setting down the girl on his bed.

"Oh man," Derek whispered to himself, scratching his head and staring at the girl passed out on his bed, "what did I just get myself into?"

Approaching the girl, Derek tried to wake her for the umpteenth time by shaking her shoulder but it did not work. She still had her satchel which lay spread out over the bed

Derek then took out his phone, having run out of ideas.

"Hey, man, " he spoke, "I need your help, asap!"

Wait, you're not even at the movie shop?" Derek snapped, "uko wapi?"

Forget it! We'll talk about that later. My apartment. Now!"

It was a few minutes past four in the evening when Jim finally showed up.

"What took you so long?" Derek started, immediately locking the door after him.

"Okay, see . . ." Jim was saying before apparently losing his words, "there was this guy with weed-"

"Umm. . .Derek, " he found his words again, staring at the bed in the middle of the room, "why is there a girl sleeping on your bed?"

"She's not asleep. She's out cold."

"Dude!" Jim cut him off, his face breaking into a stupid grin, "I know I told you to get a life but I didn't think you could actually pull it off!"

"What? No. What are you—" Derek frowned, glaring at him.

"I can see why she 'passed out', Jim said, still grinning and actually air quoted the words, "and given her looks, I don't blame ya bro. "

"No! That's not—"

"How long has she been out? Looks like you two had a lot of fun!"

"We didn't—"

"Too late, man. You already broke the 'we don't kiss and tell' rule—"

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR TWO SECONDS!" Derek growled, finally losing his cool.

"What? I—"

"Jim," Derek raised a finger at him, "we—did—not—do—anything!"

Jim's grin faded away. "Then what is she doing in your apartment?"

"Well, I—"

"Oh no! Did you kidnap her?"

"What? No, you idiot!"

"Is she even alive?"

"Yes, she. . ." Derek swallowed, approaching the girl on his bed again and noticed how her chest slowly rose and fell, ". . .is. Yes, she is."

"So then lemme get this straight," Jim said, stroking his chin like the 'genius' he was, "so, you didn't bang her, didn't kidnap her and didn't kill her. Did I get all that right?"

"Yeah!"

"Then what the fuck is she doing in your apartment?"

"I would've already told you that if your mouth wasn't all over the place!"

"Fine, tell me."

Derek sighed, shaking his head. He then explained everything from since he left his store to go to Salute iWorld up to the present.

"A white lady?"

Derek nodded.

"In leather and having a gun?"

"Yeah. I know it sounds insane."

"No, no," Jim said, "I mean, the girl does look white."

"Asian perhaps, though she had a European accent. British, I think." Derek suggested.

"But you agreeing to help her and bring her to your apartment? Now that's insane!"

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," Derek said, "but she broke my phone screens!"

"You gotta stop with the tromance, bro."

"The what?" Derek frowned, incredulous.

"You know, technology and romance—tromance."

Derek was about to ask what the hell was wrong with Jim before he cut him off again.

"Do you even know her name?"

"No, Jim. We were too busy running for our lives to actually start doing introductions over coffee!"

"Ugh. . .what is that noise?" another voice filled the room, putting an end to Derek and Jim's rambling.

"Snap! She's awake!" Jim whispered.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock!" Derek snapped.

"You know, sometimes your harshness can be so uncalled for," Jim added, still whispering.

"I'm warning you, Jim."

"Ugh. . ." the girl stirred, slowly raising her upper body.

Tamana's head felt so heavy that she feared she would fall right back on the bed were it not for her arms that supported her as she pulled herself up into a sitting position.

Her vision cleared when she noticed two boys staring back at her. One was tall and slim and looked quite familiar while the other was, well . . . the opposite and with a crazy mane of an Afro. She did not remember having seen him anywhere before.

"W-Wha. . .Wh-Where. . .where am I?" she asked.

"It's okay," Derek found himself speaking, much to his own surprise. A second ago, he had no idea what to do or maybe it was just the relief that the girl was finally awake. "You ran into me at the mall and then some lady started chasing us, remember?"

Tamana's head started to become as clear as her bespectacled eyes. Everything was vivid once again, the memories of the past forty-eight hours or less returning like a flash flood.

Instinctively, she reached for her satchel and her face went pale, her eyes widening.

"Oh no! No! Where is it?"

"Where's what?" Derek asked just as the girl looked up and that was when she saw it.

It had been in his hand all along since the run-in and he had totally forgotten all about it until the girl pointed at it.

"Oh," Derek handed the hard drive over to the girl.

"I-I need to go!" Tamana said, already getting up on her feet which still felt wobbly.

"Whoa! Hold up," Derek responded, "where exactly are you going? Why was that woman after you?"

"I can't tell you," Tamana replied flatly, "now, if you two don't mind, I'll be on my way, please!"

"I think we should let her—"

"Okay, fine," Derek said, cutting off Jim but something about this girl just kept him on edge, "but you're clearly not a Kenyan and you have no clue where you're going, do you?"

"I-I'll manage," Tamana said, her poor sense of confidence betraying her.

"A woman was trying to kill you, right?" Jim asked.

"An assassin, yes."

"Si tupigie polisi, basi."

"What?"

"He's saying we should call the cops," Derek translated. "I can't believe I'm saying this but he's right."

"No!" Tamana gasped.

"Why?" the two boys spoke at once.

Tamana nervously scratched at her satchel, staring down at her sneakers. She was all alone in this country and would probably be dead the second she stepped out of that apartment.

"Hey," Derek said, "you don't trust us. You're new here. I get that. But it looks like you're in a lot of trouble right now and we're the only people you've met so far."

She returned her attention to the two boys, focusing on the slim one who had helped her, practically saving her life. Besides, what was that her father had written to her in that last message? Know whom to trust?

If she was going to survive in this country, she would need help.

"Alright," Tamana exhaled, "my name is Tamana Minajri. My father. . .my. . ."

She almost broke down in tears again but the moment she had introduced herself, the name had registered in Derek's mind. Where had he heard it before?

"Minajri," Derek said out loud, "wait, Akshay Minajri."

Tamana looked up, surprised. "How do you know that name? "

"It was on the news, yesterday. The scientist who was murdered at WHO." Derek then eyed Tamana carefully, "You're. . . you're his daughter?"

A tear found its way down Tamana's cheek as she nodded.

"Oh. . ." Jim's voice broke, not knowing what to say to that.

"I'm really sorry, " said Derek, "but how are you here? Why?"

"This," Tamana hoisted the drive for them to see. "That assassin who was after me. I think she. . . I think she killed my dad after he sent me this. "

"What is it?" Jim asked.

"I don't know!" Tamana snapped, "it's password protected and apparently contains the solution to eradicating the coronavirus!"

Both Jim and Derek exchanged looks then turned back to her.

"That's why your dad was. . ." Derek did not want to say 'killed' anymore. The poor girl had gone through too much already. "He must have found out about this and sent it to you."

"But if it's like a cure or something," Jim said, "why would anyone want to off him?"

"I have no idea."

Derek was still caught up between the password protected drive and the existence of a cure when his thoughts were interrupted by a number of sounds coming from the monitors.

One of them had turned on, having been set to alert him of any breaking news even when it was off.

They all turned to face the screen where live from CNN, a journalist was reporting from the World Health Organization.

". . .the Director of the WHO is currently being interrogated among other officials of the organization by the Swiss Police regarding the alleged assassination of Geneticist Dr. Akshay Minajri. There hasn't been any confirmation on whether or not he was indeed killed but there are speculations ongoing that his death could possibly have been tied to the rising coronavirus variant. We hope to get more information as the forensics have just met up with the scientific criminal consultant. . ."