Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel (2 page)

Doctor Fahim left the conference room carrying the steel safe at his side. It was not very
heavy, and it was not something that could be trusted to an unknown person‟s care. As he
came out of the conference room, his assistant Divya Nayak rose from her chair and came
forward to meet him. At a height of five feet and nine inches, with fine, even features, a
delicate figure and long black hair, she looked more like a model than a scientist. This was a
misleading appearance, since she had proven herself to be a worthy student to the doctor, and
had been working with him for three years on the project. She looked at the doctor
expectantly as he came up to her.

“The meeting was as fraught with interest as
we were expecting it to be.” Doctor Fahim
said with asmile. “I‟m afraid my standing has gone down somewhat in General Bakshi‟s
estimate. But we are nearing the end of this stage of the project. They want us to tie up the
loose ends of our work and finish up the research by tonight to have the serum ready for
transport to the army lab. Unfortunately, if we are to have everything ready by tomorrow, I
will need to have a talk with Doctor Mathur as soon as possible to prepare for the cognitive
training of the subject. So I need you to get the serum to my office.”

Divya nodded, conscious of the enormous responsibility that Doctor Fahim was
entrusting her with. Aside from the doctor, she was the only civilian who was aware of the
existence of Project Alpha, and his trust meant a great deal to her.“Of course,sir.” she said,
“I‟ll get it to the lab immediately.”

* * *

Divya sat in her car at the four way intersection, waiting for the signal to change.
Traffic in Delhi is consistently rated among the worst in the world, with extremely aggressive
drivers and frequent flouting of the road rules. Accidents happen frequently, and the
congestion on the road means frequent delays at stop signals, something that Divya had been
forced to become used to. As she waited, her mind wandered over the events of the day. She
sighed, feeling like a small paper boat caught up in a tidal wave, vast and relentless in its
progress. They had now reached a point of no return in their research. The project was a day
away from being converted into a top secret military operation. Stepping back from the
business was now impossible, as was walking away from the whole thing.

Divya wondered what kind of a future the use of the serum would lead them to. In her
mind‟s eye an army of Alpha soldiers rose up before her. They would be unstoppable.
Indestructible. The balance of power would shift in India‟s favor at the global level, with the
most powerful army in the world under its command.

A shiver ran down Divya‟s spine
, even as the sun beat down mercilessly outside. She
could not help but feel uneasy about the image that her mind had conjured up. So much
power in the hands of a select few, with someone like General Bakshi at the helm. Divya
knew the general was a decorated war hero, acknowledged to be one of the ablest generals in
the history of the Indian army. But he was also known to be completely ruthless in his
dealings with people, even his own troops. Friends and foes were not very different for the
General, and everyone was suspect until proven innocent. A man like that leading an army of
super soldiers…

Divya shook her head slightly, breaking out of her dark reverie. She was being
paranoid. The project was supposed to help the world. That had always been the primary
motivation, right back to all those years ago in Africa, when Doctor Fahim had worked with
Doctor Thompson, alone and without any sponsors. There they had laid the seeds of their
work, and now it had come to fruition. The serum would make the world a better place, a
safer place. She took her minds off the involvement of the army and focused on the serum
instead. She glanced to her right at the container lying innocently on the seat beside her.
Inside the container lay the key to more power than anything the world had seen before. She
checked the lock again. Tomorrow, the serum would be in the hands of the military, and then
they would see exactly what the serum could do for mankind.

Divya looked out of the window, watching the people waiting with her at the stop.
Some were on motorcycles, some were inside cars like her. There was also a young boy
sitting on his bicycle, his eyes on the traffic light. He had a schoolbag strapped to his
shoulders. Divya guessed he was on his way to tuitions.

Seeing the boy opened a new train of thought, as it brought to
Divya‟s mind the
remarkable effect the serum had on youngsters. Divya studied the boy. He had a thin frame.
Not in a starved way, but in the awkward, pubescent stage way. There was a slightly childish
quality to his face, with soft features that were not yet fully formed. The cycle was slightly
too big for him, and he was resting the tip of one foot on the ground as he waited. She
guessed his age to be around twelve or thirteen.

The boy was staring into the distance. Divya followed his gaze to one of the buildings
with a billboard on the side with some advertisement. It seemed a bland enough piece of
work. For a moment, she thought she saw a flutter of dark cloth over the edge of the building,
but in the time it took to blink it had disappeared. She stared at the road again, her mind back
on the task at hand.

When the light changed to green, she put her car in gear and prepared to move forward.
Suddenly her phone began to ring. She took her foot off the accelerator and opened her purse.

Taking out her phone, she saw that the number was an unknown one. She turned on the
loudspeaker onher mobile and waited, but no sound came. “Hello?” she said into the speaker,
but a sudden burst of static was all she heard before the line went dead.

Puzzled, she switched her phone off and again started her car, but the boy had now
moved in front of her and she paused to let him pass. She bent down to replace her phone in
her purse.

Which was why she missed witnessing the accident.
The whole incident was over so quickly that for a moment passersby could only stare in
shock. The boy moved forward to the middle of the road, and a giant black sumo raced up the
road to his left. The boy had barely time to turn his head before the car had crashed into him.
The impact of metal against metal and the squeal of rubber tires produced an ugly, high
pitched screech. Before anyone could react, the sumo was gone, racing on down the road at
an even faster speed.

The boy was thrown into the air from the impact, landing ten feet away, and lay there
unmoving. The rest of the onlookers were too horrified to do anything but stare. Divya got
out of her car and ran to the inert form stretched out on the road. She knelt beside him, and
for a moment all she could do was stare in horror as well. His arm had been totally mangled.
There was blood pouring out of his skull and the right side of his ribcage had caved in.

“You! Help me get him inside my car.” Divya shouted to one of the onlookers, a
man
in a blue shirt who looked thoroughly unnerved. A crowd had begun to gather rapidly on the
spot. Between the two of them they managed to get the boy inside her car, away from the
blistering sun. “Call a hospital. Tell them to bring an ambulance.” She told the man. He
walked off quickly, fumbling for his mobile, the front of his blue shirt now stained with dark
red blood.

A
s he disappeared, Divya knew it would be too late. The boy‟s condition was critical.
Even without a stethoscope she could almost hear his heartbeat slowing. She shook off the
helplessness she felt and grabbed the box containing the serum, placing it under the front
passenger seat. No one should see the container when the ambulance came

Divya stopped, her hand still on the container. For a long moment she stared at the
handle of the container. Slowly, she placed the box back on the seat.

Now that the shock was wearing off, her mind was beginning to function normally
again. The analytical side of her brain was computing the chances of the boy living till the
ambulance arrived, while a separate part of her mind was replaying flashes of a conversation
she had had with DoctorFahim months ago. “
This serum is going to be particularly helpful in
times of war.”
He had said.
“The recovery speed from wounds and the healing rate for the
subjectis phenomenal.”
He had laughed then, the pride of the creator in his voice.
“I’m
almost tempted to put it on the market as medicine.”

Divya stood frozen, bent over her car seat, feeling oddly detached from the scene around
her. Her mind was wrestling with the implications of what she was contemplating doing, and
the repercussions her actions might bring. And yet it was the only way, the only hope there
was for saving the boy‟s life. Thoughts blew a whirlwind inDivya‟s mind. Arguments and
counter arguments. The work and effort that had gone into making the serum. The importance
it held for the entire nation. Her duty towards the project. Towards her country.

However, after all had been said and done, there was only one reality. The image of the
boy taking his last breath in front of her. Divya knew she had no choice.

Her fingers flew over the combination lock. Within seconds, she had taken the serum
out of the container, raised the boy‟s head from the seat and was helping him gulp down the
liquid.
* * *

Divya was pacing the floor of a private room in the hospital. Twenty minutes ago, the
ambulance had rushed the injured boy to the emergency room, and he was currently being
operated upon. Divya had called Doctor Fahim, who was still at the secretariat. She had given
him a brief account of what had happened and where she was. After the initial shock and
subsequent inquiries, Doctor Fahim had instructed her to stay at the hospital, and was now on
his way over with Mr. Rai and General Bakshi.

Divya paced the room, waiting. A part of her was still reeling in shock at what she
had done. The other part was wondering what they were going to do to her. Her decision had
been mainly instinctive, and now that she had time to think beyond that decision, the future
looked very bleak. She had been trusted with a literally priceless piece of government
property, and had managed to lose it in less than an hour. Even worse, she had involved a
civilian, a teenage boy, in a top secret government project. She knew offenders had been
executed for lesser crimes before.

“Miss!” A frightened voice came from the door. Divya turned. A nurse was peeping at
her from behind the half opened door.

“Some men are looking for you
, Miss.” the nurse said in a whisper. “They‟re turning the
hospital upside down. One of them seems to be a military man of some sort. He was insisting
that they be allowed to see the injured boy you brought in, even though the doctors tried to
tell him that the boy was being operated on. But then the other two men managed to persuade
him to wait. And now they‟re asking for you.”

Divya nodde
d. “They are friends of mine.” she said. It was an odd way of referring to
the three men, two of whom would quite possibly want to have her jailed, but it was better
than revealing their true identity. “Could you tell them that I am waiting for them here? We
will need some privacy.”

The nurse nodded and scurried off. Divya resumed her pacing, her hands feeling
clammy with sweat. In the past few years she had matured a lot, and had become used to
fending for herself, yet her heart quailed at the thought of meeting General Bakshi now.

A minute later she heard a series of rapid footsteps outside, and upraised voices. She
turned to face the door, inwardly steeling herself.

The door burst open, and three deeply disturbed men entered the room. The Defense
Minister was in the lead. Lines of worry creased his forehead. The General was right behind
him, his mouth tightened into a line of fury. Doctor Fahim came in last. He shot a look of
inquiry at Divya, his eyes full of concern. The sight of Doctor Fahim was reassuring, and
Divya felt slightly more confident. Doctor Fahim turned and locked the door, sealing the
room behind them.

“What have you done?” t
he General shouted without preamble, his face a deep shade of
red. “What monumental stupidity possessed you to behave in this manner?
Answer me
,
Miss
Nayak
!”

Divya took a deep breath.
“I did what I thought was right, sir.” she spoke as evenly as
she could. “The boy was dying in front of my eyes. The serum was the only thing that could
have saved him. It seemed to be the only course to pursue.”

“
The only course?” the General spluttered. His face was growing steadilyredder. “And who
gave you the right to decide how to make use of a piece of government property? Who said
you could involve in a private matter technology intended
specifically
for the use of the
Indian army?”

“Calm down, General.” Doctor Fahim said, coming to stand next to the Minister and the
general.

“Don‟t tell me to
calm down, DoctorFahim.” the General turned to glare at the doctor.
“Do you realize what she has done? In less than an hour we have lost the single greatest
tactical advantage in the history of the armed forces, something that could have single
handedly turned the rules of modern warfare on its head. And instead we have gotten a
massive casualty on our hands in the form of a child with the power of a demon. And even
that
is provided he survives the operation, which does not at all seem likely at the moment, in
which case the power of the serum will be lost forever. I want to know what she has to say
for herself. Why was she even given the serum? You were the one who was supposed to get
the serum to the lab.”

“Which is what I would have done if
your plans for getting the project ready by
tomorrow had not forced me to change my plans regarding the training program of the
subject.” DoctorFahim said calmly. “I had to talk to Doctor Mathur about the therapy
techniques we intend to use on the Alpha Soldiers. I therefore instructed Divya to take the
serum to the lab.”