Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel (22 page)

Five minutes later, the people at Swan Labs heard Kundan give Neel the full details of
his recent dealings.

 

“Very good” Doctor Fahim said over the communicator.

 

CHAPTER 9: Food for Thought

The next day was Sunday, and Neel sat in his house watching TV while his mother read
a film magazine. A rerun of Whose Line Is It Anyway was turned on, but his mind was
elsewhere. The information he had obtained yesterday was being deliberated upon by the
people at Swan Labs. What the information would tell them would decide how Neel was to
continue with the assignment.

Neel sighed, thinking yet again about the night before. The entire operation had been
discussed in Swan Labs and planned carefully, and it had all gone without a hitch. Now that
the mission was completed successfully, he felt free to gloat over it. Fighting those criminal
guards, and then later plunging through the air after the screaming Kundan. It had all been
thrilling and exciting beyond anything he had done before. He couldn‟t wait for his next
assignment.

At eleven, he left on his bicycle, making his way to the government building. He only
had two hours to spare before Aryan came over to his house, and then they were going with
Priyanka to watch a movie. Neel felt guilty about how little time he had spent with his best
friends since the accident, and the excuse of resting at home because of his injuries was not
going to satisfy them for much longer if they continued to see so little of him. A few minutes
of waiting, and then the battered old car rolled into view. Arjun opened the window and
greeted him with one of his rare smiles.

“Congratulations on last night.” he said, as Neel grinned broadly and got into the seat
beside him. “You handled the business very well.”

 

“Thanks.” Neel said happily. “I was a bit nervous at first. Especially when I was moving
over the city on my own and trying to stay out of sight.”

 

“Did anyone see you?” Arjun asked as the car moved swiftly through the traffic.

 

“No, I was reallycareful.” Neel hastened to assure him. “It was a pretty dark night, and I
stayed in the shadows. And I stuck to the alleys and side streets in crowded places.”

 

“Good. And the bodyguards?”

“Yeah, I really didn‟t know what to do about them
at first.” Neel admitted. “But then
Doctor Fahim told me what they were really like. After that, I didn‟t have any problem. I
could‟ve beaten all of them at once ifI‟d wanted to.”

“Don‟t
get over confident.” Arjun said warningly. “This was a carefully planned and
contained operation, with complete foreknowledge of the region.Conditions won‟t always be
so ideal. Such closed areas of operation are rare, and from now on your missions will rely
much more onyour presence of mind.”

“Yeah, I know.” Neel said. But the information did not really worry him.“I‟ll have you
guys on link all the time. I can handle it.”

 

Arjun glanced at him. But he refrained from saying anything more and returned to
watching the road.

They arrived at Swan Labs, and Arjun again took Neel to the main control room of the
central building. Doctor Fahim, Divya, Negi and Premi were waiting for him. They all smiled
as he entered the room with a spring in his step, grinning broadly.

“An excellent start to your new responsibilities, Neel.” Doctor Fahim greeted him. “You
have made us all very proud.”

 

“Thank you, sir.” Neel said as Divya, Negi and Premi took turns shaking his hand and
clapping him on his back. “I couldn‟t have done it without all the planning we did.”

 

“Then Ihope you continue to take your training as seriously as you do now.” Doctor
Fahim said. “Now let us show you what we have learned last night.”

They moved over to the huge screen, and Negi and Premi stood
next to Neel. “Your
performance last night was most impressive.” Premi said with a smile. “And you sounded
quite different on the link. More mature.”

“And much more confident.” Negi agreed. “I was quitesurprised too.”

“
When I wore that mask” Neel began, shaking his head wonderingly. Then he spoke
again slowly, trying to explain what it had felt like. “It‟s like, you know, almost like I was
watching someone else. It was like this whole other person took over. This guy who had so
much power that he wasn‟t scared of the guards or Kundan at all. I knew what my mission
was, and now that I was finally letting him loose, this other guy was completely in control of
the situation.”

“
That feeling is understandable. This was the first time you were allowed to use your
abilities fully outside of practice.” Premi nodded. “It must have been tremendously exciting.
And the result was most impressive.”

“Except at the beginning.” Negi said. “When you said at first that you couldn‟t go in, I
was half afraid you had frozen up like you did that night in the alley.”

“No, it wasn‟t that. I knew I could handle the guards.” Neel explain
ed quickly. “They
were fighting like they‟d never had a lesson before. You know, I really think I could‟ve taken
on at least threeof them, even if I hadn‟t had these powers.”

“Okay, easy now.”
Negi said warningly. “That‟s a little too much confidence. We‟re all
glad the mission was successful, but you can never afford to become overconfident in this
type of business, Neel.”

“Well, yeah, Of course. I didn‟t mean it that way.” Neel said quickly, blushing slightly.
He turned to the screen, where Divya had opened a new photo.“I‟m just saying that,I‟m not
scared or anything.” Negi looked like he wanted to say something more, but then seemed to
think better of it. They all fell silent as they turned to the computer screen.

“This is Malik Saket.” Divya
told Neel. The photograph showed a man standing outside
a car, talking to some guards. He was dressed in a well cut suit, yet not even the dignified
outfit or the flecks of gray in his hair could make him look completely civilized. There was a
savagery in the sharp features and heavy eyebrows that hinted at a brutal nature. As Neel
stared at the picture, he knew instinctively that this would be a much more dangerous
opponent than Kundan. “He is a veteran of many wars, and has travelled extensively for years
before returning to India. There are some rumors that he was deported due to some trouble in
Iraq. He is now the chief of security of Alok Mehta‟s staff. He is involved very closely with
whatever Alok Mehta is planning, and he is our next lead in this business.”

Neel nodded. “Kundan told me about him. He‟s the one he‟s doing business with right
now.”

“Precisely.”
DoctorFahim said. “A meeting has been arranged two weeks from now
between Kundan and Mr. Saket. You will be attending that meeting, without them being
aware of that fact. And there wewill see what can be found.”

“The meeting is intwo weeks away?” Neel asked. “What‟ll I do in the meantime?”

“You will continue your training with your coaches.”
DoctorFahim said. “In the time
left to us, we will find out everything possible about the meeting and make plans
accordingly.”

* * *

It was almost a week after the meeting with Dr Fahim and the others. Neel had not had
to go to Swan Labs for the last five days, giving him time to catch up on the rest of his life.
His trainers had instructed him to keep practicing his exercises every night. He had told his
mother that his coaching classes were closed for a few days due to renovations, and the extra
time he had on his hands now allowed him to concentrate more on school and his friends.

Neel sat in the auditorium with his classmates and the rest of the school. Several times a
year their principal, Mr. Ojha, attempted to instill some life lessons into the hearts of the
students and make them better human beings, and roped in some eminent personality to give
a speech for the purpose. The students rarely remembered the speeches for more than an
hour, the few who actually paid attention. For most of them it was a welcome break from the
monotony of lessons, and the occasional performances from students varied the proceedings a
little. During most of the speech from the eminent personality, however, students spent
whispering to each other or staring blankly at the stage. The last such attempt had not been a
success. They had had the chairman of a company speaking to them about the benefits of
hard work. The speech in itself had been quite vigorous. But the man had a singularly
depressing personality. His manner throughout had suggested that he had experienced things
which would make Edgar Allan Poe shudder. All through the speech he had talked in an
unaccountably crushed, heartbroken sort of way about enjoying his comfortable life now
knowing he had truly earned it and deserved it, so that most students remained skeptical
about his claims.

Now the students were prepared for another mildly interesting morning outside of
classrooms as they sat in the hall. Prefects and school house captains prowled around the hall,
squashing the students whenever they seemed to be becoming too boisterous. Neel was trying
to avoid catching the eye of Vikalp, the captain of gold house, which was the house he
belonged to. Vikalp had tracked him down not long after the accident and wanted to know
why he had stopped playing football, since he had stood a good chance of getting into the
house team in a few years. Neel had tried his best to keep the answer vague, while laying as
much blame as possible on his injuries, but he knew that Vikalp, who took the welfare of his
house and his duties very seriously, was disappointed in him.

“
You, boy! Stop talking.” Neel heard Gaurav, the head boy of the school, call out
sternly. He had been speaking to Pawan, who had been holding a whispered conversation
with Ghazi. Pawan gave Anand a glowering stare, and then deliberately turned his back on
him and continued with the conversation.

“
Pawan.” Mr. Pannikar‟s voice came quietly from the back. “Stop talking at once or get
out of the hall.” Pawan turned and stared insolently at Mr. Pannikar. But then he sank back
slowly in his seat and became quiet.

Their headmaster Mr. Ojha appeared in the doorway, a small, balding man with a dry
manner, who occasionally displayed a sternness that kept most of the students in line around
him. Behind Mr. Ojha walked an immensely fat man with small, puffy eyes and a jovial
smile. He was apparently the guest speaker, and a lot of the smaller students giggled loudly as
he passed by them, nodding graciously left and right. The prefects quieted down the younger
students at once. The guest waddled his way over to the guest seats after Mr. Ojha, who was
staring at the older students, silently warning them to behave. The head boy and girl shook
hands respectfully with their guest, and he sank himself down comfortably, the chair
squeaking a little in the silent hall. He waved to some of the younger students who were
standing on tip toe to look at him, apparently unaware of the stir he had caused.

“Santa Claus is coming to town…” Aryan sang softly next to Neel, and the students
around him laughed in low voices.

The head girl, Payal, then stepped onto the stage and spoke into the microph
one. “Good
morning Headmaster, teachers, my dear friends, and a special welcome to Doctor Pratap
Dayal, our guest for today. We are honored to have such an eminent personality with us. Mr.
Dayal is an alumnus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his PhD in
aerospace engineering, and a master's degree in applied physics from Johns Hopkins
University. He accepted early in his career a position at NASA's Glenn Research Center in
Cleveland. He was recently awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, and is the
lead author of several papers on compressible flow and computational fluid dynamics. I invite
him to sit back and enjoy the program our students have prepared for this occasion.”

Listening to the long list of his achievements, Neel could not help but feel impressed.
The only man he knew with a bigger list to his credit was Doctor Fahim, and Neel knew what
an important figure he was in his field.

The show began. There was singing and classical dancing. A play by the lower standards
was performed about a frog, a toad and an owl. It was heavily metaphorical, and left the
students with a vague impression that it had been either about communal harmony or
cheating during exams. Loud applause greeted Ronak‟s performance, a senior who had
created a mash up of Michael Jackson and Hrithik Roshan dances. Neel had to surreptitiously
stuff his fingers in his ears on several occasions when the music got too loud, and was glad he
was sitting well away from the speakers.

The performances gave time for the students to talk among themselves with less chances
of being heard.Aryan nudged Neel. “So, you‟re coming to the grounds for the cricket
match?”

“Yeah.” Neel affirmed. “I‟ll come to watch with Priyanka. ButI‟m still not well enough
to play.”

“Better get better soon, dude.” Aryan said
severely. “We always fall short of players at
the park. Nitin‟s decent enough when he‟s paying attention, but half the time he‟s off
somewhere else in his head these days.”

Neel looked over at Nitin four seats away. He was staring at the stage with a dreamy
expression, and had clearly already drifted off. The sages of ancient times had spent years
atop Himalayan Mountains, searching for a meditative state strong enough to ignore all
distractions. Nitin had learned to achieve the feat in his youth while sitting in the dark and
noisy auditorium.

“I‟m really sorry, man.” Neel said quietly
to Aryan. “I really wish I could come by more
often. Just these last few months have been really busy. But I‟ll definitely come today.”
Aryan nodded and leaned back in his seat.

Then Payal returned to the stage and invited their guest to say a few words to the
students.

The guest of honor got up and waddled his way to the stage, the wide smile back on his
face. Giggling and muttering broke out through the hall again. He stood in front of the mike
and gazed at the audience. The students stared back, preparing to drift off. There was
shuffling and shifting in the hall as children with low attention spans and too much energy
moved around restlessly.