Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel (6 page)

 

“Good morning, Neel.” DoctorFahim said. “I hope you had a good night‟s rest?”

 

“Yes, I did, sir.” Neel said, watching them both nervously.

 

“Well, then.” DoctorFahim said, looking at him intently. “I hope you also had the
chance to think about the conversation we had yesterday, and our offer to you.”

 

“Yeah, I thought about it a bit.” Neel said, and stopped, trying to play for some time.

 

“And?” Doctor Fahim prompted him gently.

 

Neel staredat him. “What happens if I say no?”

Doctor
Fahim considered the question gravely. “You will have to learn to cope with
your new abilities on your own.” he said. “That in itself is no small task. You will have cost
the country an important pieceof technology and the possibilities it has.” Dr Fahim stared at
him quietly. “The only questions you need to ask yourself are these Neel; do you think you
can handle this situation on your own? Or do you want to see what your full capabilities
could be under the proper guidance?”

Neel nodded slowly. It was the question that had kept him awake all night. “Then I
accept your offer, sir.” he said.

“Excellent” t
he doctor said, smiling broadlyat him. “Then we can now start this very
interesting experiment. Your school has been told that, because of the shock you sustained
fromthe accident, you won‟t be able to attend your classes for a week. Instead, you will come
to the head quarters of this project every day. Starting tomorrow.”

“I can learn everything in a week?” Neel asked in surprise.

 

“No, but you will only need an hour or so every day after school after the first part of
your training is over.” the doctor said.

 

“What about my mother?” Neel asked. “Can I tell her about this?”

 

Doctor Fahim sat down at the edge of his bed and looked at the young boy very
seriously.

“I‟m afraid not, Neel.”
he said quietly. “Not yet, at any rate. By agreeing to this
experiment, you have become part of a top secret military project. This is a matter of the
highest national security, and the stakes are higher than anything you can imagine. For now,
we need to keep this a secret. Neither your family nor your friends can know about this part
of your life. Not yet at any rate.”

Neel nodded. “I understand.” he said quietly and sighed, wondering if he was going to
regret his decision.

“Divya will now tell you the particulars of tomorrow.”
Doctor Fahim said, rising to his
feet. “Listen closely to her instructions, and we will get through this together. I will see you
soon, Neel. Take care.”

Doctor Fahim left the room. Divya came to sit in the chair next to the bed and smiled at
Neel. “Feeling nervous?” she asked. She was very pretty, and there was a good natured
quality to her smile. Neel suddenly felt a blush suffuse his cheeks.

“Just a bit.” he admitted quietly, trying hard to make the admission sound casual.

Divya stared at the young boy, her smile slipping a little. He looked so young and
vulnerable, lying on the hospital bed in the oversized gown. She felt a sudden stab of guilt at
the strange and dangerous situation she had put him in.“Neel, I know there‟s no point in
saying this now, but for what it‟s worth, I‟m sorry I put you in this position.” She said softly.
“I know this must all be very confusing for you.”

“No, come on, you don‟t have to apologize.” Neel said quickly, b
lushing even more. “I
mean, I would have died if you hadn‟t helped me.” He stared up at her. “And I wanted to tell
you, thank you for not just walking away.”

“Well, your
recoveryis thanks enough.” Divya smiled. She rummaged in her purse for
the notes.“Now, there are some things you need to keep in mind for the day after
tomorrow…”

Doctor Fahim had stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. He made
his way down the hall to the third door on the right. Entering the room quietly, he glanced at
its lone occupant. General Bakshi stood at the end of the room looking out of the window.
Doctor Fahim took out the mobile that the General had given him and placed it on a nearby
table.

The mobile had a roving bug spyware installed that allowed the General to activate it
from his own cell phone. The General had used the microphone and transmitter arrangement
to listen to the entire conversation that had taken place in room 449, just as he had listened to
the conversation that had occurred in Neel‟s room the day before. He did not turn as Doctor
Fahim made his way towards him, but continued to gaze silently outside.

“So the boy has agreed.” he said curtly as Doctor Fahim came to stand next to him.

 

“Afraid and uncertain and extremely nervous, but yes, he hasagreed.” Doctor Fahim
said gravely.

The two men stood in silence for a moment, both looking out of the window at the front
of the hospital, where a profusion of people and vehicles were crammed into a tight parking
space.

“That was a completely unnecessary approach you used, pretending he had a choice in
the matter.” General Bakshi said, still without looking at Doctor Fahim.

 

“He needs to believe he himself has chosento become a part of the project.” Doctor
Fahim said quietly. “Otherwise we will neverbe able to obtain his trust and cooperation.”

“As if we did not have enough to worry about.” t
he General muttered. “Now we have to
waste time on the emotional problems of a teenager as well.” General Bakshi finally turned to
look at Doctor Fahim. His voice had an edge to it as he spoke.“As you yourself pointed out
to the boy, the stakes involved in this matter are very high, doctor. The childish insecurities
of a fourteen year old are the least of our worries at this point.”

“These „i
nsecurities‟ need to be resolved from the start, if the project is to have any sort
of a success, General.” Dr Fahim looked at General Bakshi with a slight frown. “Your tough
love approach would in this case be detrimental to the project. It is necessary that Neel learn
to trust us if we are to help him get used to his new abilities and work with us. Without his
cooperation this project will not succeed. Please try to remember that we are not discussing
the training of one of your army recruits, but a young and impressionable boy. A boy,
moreover, who has recently been through a singularly terrifying experience.”

“
An experience that would have been fatal, had it not been for the serum.” the General
retorted.“A serum that is the property of the Indian defense force. That makes the boy, at
least in part, our property as well.”

“That serum is no
t important.” the doctor spoke quietly, but there was a hint of steel in
his voice.“The boy is.I know you are more concerned with results, but I‟m afraid I place a
higher value on lives than on your ambitions for the army.” the General was a tall man, but
Doctor Fahim was taller still. No trace remained in DoctorFahim‟s eyes of the gentleness
that Neel had seen there. His hardened gaze reminded General Bakshi that this was no
ordinary civilian he was talking to.

“
Be that as it may, I hope you understand our agreement.” the General said coldly. He
walked over to the table and placed the mobile in his pocket. “This turn of events may have
forced our hand, but at the first sign of incompetence in the boy, he will be removed
immediately from the program, and we will find some other way to deal with this situation.”

Doctor Fahim nodded, his gaze relaxing. “But in the meantime, while we try to make
this new endeavor a success, I trust we will have your full support?”

 

“I shall perform my duty as is expected of me.” the General said as he turned to leave
the room.

 

CHAPTER 3: Unfamiliar Territory

The next evening Neel returned home with his mother. It was a relief to be able to get
back to his house. His time alone in the hospital room had been spent in learning to keep his
mind under control, a control that he found easier to maintain in peaceful surroundings. His
mind had a disconcerting habit of speeding up whenever his attention slipped, and he had
found that it was usually outside excitement that made him lose control.

The ride back had been extremely unpleasant. Alone in the quiet hospital room he had
not realized just how acute his hearing had become. All through the trip home he had been
starting from unexpected horns and traffic whistles. The chatter of passing groups of
pedestrians had broken his concentration entirely. He had been pretending to sleep all though
the ride to avoid talking or moving at all to hide his increased speed. It was only after turning
into the quiet street in front of his house that the noises lessened slightly. It took several
minutes of pretending to be drowsy after waking up to gain time to rebuild his concentration
and get his speed under control.

While his mother paid the driver, Neel got out of the taxi and gazed up at his house. It
was an old house, one of the earliest buildings in their colony. It showed its age in the
weather stained walls, and the old coat of paint gave it a distinctly shabby appearance. It was
where Neel and his mother had lived ever since his birth. On the left side, adjacent to their
house, lived Mr. and Mrs. Ghosh with their daughter Priyanka. On the other side of the street
stood the house of the Dases, the upper windows of their house shut tightly as usual. The
street was deserted as darkness fell rapidly around them.

Neel stared around at the familiar scene. There was the feeling of comfort in returning
home, but also something else. There was a sense of being alien to the well known
surroundings, as though he was almost a new arrival to the house. He had returned from the
hospital a vastly different person from before, and he found himself looking at the wellknown surroundings through new eyes. It was an enhanced awareness of the environment, as
though until the accident his senses had been clogged up, and he was now seeing and hearing
things properly for the first time. It was an odd sensation, thrilling but also unsettling. He
could count the tendrils of the fungus growing within one of the tiny cracks at the bottom of
the wall. He could smell the scent of warm food coming from the house next to theirs. He
could hear the distinct patter of different footsteps on the main road as though they were
walking in front of him…

“Neel?” His mother‟s voice brought him back from his thoughts. She was
looking at
him anxiously, worried by the strange, vacant expression on his face as he stood staring at
their house. “Are you feeling all right?”

“Yeah, I‟m fine.” Neel said
quickly, forcing his mind back from its wanderings.“It feels
nice to be back.” He went to stand before the front gate of their house. His mother stared at
him for a moment before going to unlock the gate. Neel silently followed his mother inside
their house, every step forward sending a barrage of information to his brain. He struggled to
maintain a grasp on his mind as it threatened to speed up again.

The scene inside their home was as Neel remembered it. The small but cheerful kitchen.
The stone basin and the cupboards filled with pots and pans. The drawing room in its semi
tidy state, with the TV remote laying on the sofa. Kept opposite to the sofa was a large and
comfortable bed, where they usually sat to watch the evening shows. Their house held a
cramped air, as though it could barely squeeze in all the objects and furniture inside. But it
held a cozy air, and it was the house he had grown up in.

“
These last two days I‟ve spent so much time in the office and at the hospital that the
entire house is in a mess.” His mother sighed, staring at the disorderly surroundings. She
opened the fridge and peeredinside. “Why don‟t you go freshen up in your room? You can
rest for a while if you want to, or maybe get some fresh air on the terrace, and I‟ll call you
when dinner will be ready.”

“Okay.” Neel said and made his way upstairs. He could hear the clink of cutlery from
the kitchen as he pushed open the door to his room and entered.

The tiny study table in a corner. The bed pushed against the wall. The rickety cupboard
which never shut properly, and which for some reason always opened at the slightest touch.
The steel shelf where his books were kept. Save for some tidying up that his mother had
done, everything was just as he had left it.

Neel could hear the sounds of his mother moving around downstairs preparing lunch as
though she was right outside the door. He reached inside his sleeveless jacket and pulled out
a packet that Divya had given him at the hospital. It had taken some effort to smuggle the
packet out of the hospital without his mother noticing. Inside it was a pair of noise cancelling
headphones, designed to block out sound near his ears while he slept. Divya had told him
that, because of his enhanced hearing, he would find it very difficult to fall sleep unless he
wore the headphones. For the last two days he had slept in a sound proof room in the hospital,
and so had believed her to be exaggerating. But now that he was in his room, he realized he
would definitely need them. His ears were picking up the sounds of cars and people walking
on the road behind their house, the radio on in another house, the blast of the fan and the
creaking of furniture, and every small creak coming from windows and doors. It might be
possible to ignore the sounds when he was awake, but it would be impossible to sleep
through it all.

Carefully, he opened the cupboard and unlocked the drawer inside. It was the only
private space he had ever had. It contained some knick knacks from his childhood, along with
a calculator,an unfinished Rubik‟s cube and a beautifully crafted leather wallet that rarely
had any money in it. Inside the drawer was a secret compartment that even his mother did not
know about. The compartment was empty, but now Neel opened it and placed the
headphones inside.

He sank slowly onto his bed, its ancient joints creaking slightly under his weight, and sat
staring around the room. His eyes fell on an old broken lamp that was kept stashed under the
cupboard. His mother had intended to have it fixed someday, but now it lay beneath the
cupboard almost forgotten. He went over to it and drew it out, running his hand over the
metal handle. Grasping the handle in both hands, he applied pressure at the ends just like he
had at the hospital. He felt again the surge of power in his hands, and the handle bent into an
L shape. He stared at the curved metal, his heart pounding. Then he carefully unfolded it and
placed it back.