Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel (42 page)

“Accidents can be arranged.”
DoctorFahim said softly. He stood up. “From the start, my
plan depended on how well I knew the people I was working with. I knew the General
disliked the idea of drawing a civilian scientist like me so deeply into national secrets, and he
would not listen to any suggestion I had to make on whom to give the power of the serum to.
The Minister is a more open-minded man, but even he would not accept such an outlandish
idea. I needed to put them in a position where they would have no choice but to accept a
teenage Alpha.” DoctorFahim paused, watching the stunned expression on Divya‟s face.
And this was only the beginning.

“When you met me after the conference,” he resumed. “I told you to take the serum
personally to the lab. I had timed the whole day carefully. After you left, I alerted some men I
had been forced to hire. In return for their services, I gave them some state of the art
weaponry being designed specifically for Alpha soldiers thatI had access to.” The look of
comprehension on Divya‟s face told Doctor Fahim that she had made the connection. They
were the same men that Neelhad stopped at the bank. He continued, “They were stupid men,
only capable of following simple orders. They were even willing to go to jail for a while for
the right price. They had two missions. One was to ensure that you met Neel at the traffic
stop. When they saw Neel was getting ready to leave before the decided time, they punctured
his cycle to make sure he was not too early. One of the men stayed in front of him all along
the road, to make sure he was in time for the traffic stop.”

“And so it was that you saw
Neelanchan Dervin for the first time that day. The light
turned green, Neel moved to the middle of the road, and the other man crashed into him right
in front of you.”

The horror and disgust Divya felt was so intense she felt nauseated. The doctor was still
not looking at her. He went on with his narration, staring at the container, as though drawing
strength from it to tell the story.

“I had been discussing the idea of a teenage soldier with you, and I knew that because of
the respect you had for me, you would be more willing to believe in the idea than others. You
also knew how quickly and efficiently the serum heals wounds. Therefore it was natural that
your conscience would force you to give him the serum. You reacted to the situation like I
knew you would, and Neel Dervin became our first Alphasoldier.”

Divya‟s mind was in a whirl. She had been used. In a masterly manner, her every move
had been guided without her ever being aware of it.

 

“Why Neel?” she asked finally, voice trembling. “He was just an ordinary, innocent boy.
Why did you choose him to be the scapegoat?”

 

Doctor Fahim studied her quietly, deliberating how to explain it to her.

“I choose
Neel…” he said finally, “precisely for that reason. Because he was a
completely ordinary boy. I had to be careful while choosing the person who was to become
the Alpha soldier. If I had chosen someone too weak, or too young, the army would not even
have considered using them. Too old, and there would have been less chance of my plan
working. I finally decided on a fourteen year old. I looked at the records of several schools,
and observed many possible candidates. I decided to use Neel. He had no qualifications for
the job other than his complete and total mediocrity. He was an only child. Father dead,
mother away from home for long periods, and so having had a neglected childhood. He
showed no brilliance in either studies or games. Had no hobbies or any quality which could
set him apart as special or gifted. And his only knowledge of combat was through larger than
life films and comics. Certainly not the material for a highly specialized and demanding job.
The perfect boy for my purpose.”

“But he proved you wrong, didn‟t he?” Divya interrupted triumphantly. “He handled the
situation better than most veterans would have. You were wrong about him.”

Doctor Fahim nodded gravely
. “All through this business,” he said. “My plans have
been frustrated because of the unpredictability of the people involved. Throughout Neel‟s
preparation, I expected him to be overwhelmed by his training, to show signs of breaking. I
deliberately increased the work load of his training. But instead of buckling under the
pressure, he showed a talent for the work in a way he had certainly never shown before. The
serum increases the brain‟s memory but it does not affect the cognitive skills or work ethics
of the subject. I was amazed, but convinced myself that the training was like playing for him,
and he still did not understand the gravity of his position.”

“I expected him to make a blunder while on a mission. The serum makes you powerful,
but it does not make you invincible. I would use his mistake to convince our sponsors that the
error occurred because there was something wrong with the serum, and stop the project then
and there. I waited.”

“And so Neel went on his first mission, and handled it like a professional, impressing
even the General. I was shocked, but I managed to hide my nervousness.”

 

Doctor Fahim stared at the ground.

 

“It seemed that I had been wrong in my plans, and I was in despair. Soon, the
government would find out about Mehta.”

“But then it happened. On his third mission.
Neel had become overconfident. And
Mehta knew more about him and his abilities than you all thought. Neel was very nearly
killed. However, he managed to escape. He stood outside the Phlicer complex, and there
again he almost died. I admit I had not expected that his first accident would have left such a
deep impression on his mind, but it seemed that it was all for the best. He was hit by the car
and it seemed it was finally over, but then…”

“But then the General‟s unpredictability cost me. All through this business he had been
against using a teenager in the project, and I did not expect any problems from him. But
though he was against the idea, he intended to do his duty. Without telling even me, he had
Arjun keep an eye on Neel. And Neelsurvived yet again.”

“But I was determined to make it the last time. After his near fatal mission, he was of
course not allowed to continue with the assignment. In time, I found a way to blame the
serum for Neel‟s collapse. The General and Mr. Rai accepted my diagnosis as an expert. The
project was finished. The only problem left was Neel. I needed to ensure his absolutefailure.”

“Oh god…” Divya whispered, her voice filled with horror. It could not be true. Surely
he could not have sunk even lower…

 

The doctor looked at her sadly. “I see you have understood.” he said in a low voice.

 

“All those sessions Neelhad with you trying to get over his fears.” Divya said, sounding
close to tears. “You weren‟t helping him. You were making it worse.”

 

The doctor buried his head in his hands. He seemed to be going through an internal
struggle too deep to put into words.

“After we found out about his
condition.” DoctorFahim said, his voice muffled. “There
was only one thing left to do. But the magnitude of the measures I would have to take was so
great that I could not bring myself to do it. I genuinely tried to help him the first few times.
But in trying to spare Neel, I was denying my other responsibility. And finally, I knew I had
no choice. I used hypnotherapy to plant suggestions of his own failure in his mind. I started to
bring his mind back to the moment when he felt the car crash into him. I made him dwell on
it repeatedly, in rapid floods of memory that his mind could not tolerate in such high doses,
so that by the end of the month, his fear had grown and become more savage and stronger
than ever before. I was repulsed by what I had done, but I had achieved my aim. It was clear
that Neel‟s will had been broken beyond repair… or so I thought.”

“But
then it happened. I got a phone call from Neel. It seemed as though he was saying
goodbye. I did not understand the true meaning of the message until I watched the news
about the bank robbery.” Doctor Fahim fell silent, remembering the wonder and awe he had
felt upon seeing Neel on the news.“I can‟t even imagine how he did it.” he said. “The fear
must have been multiplied a hundred times when he stood in front of the car for the third
time. And yet, he managed to win through the fear. It was… one of the most amazing things I
have ever seen.” Divya remembered the expression on DoctorFahim‟s face when they had
seen Neel stop the car on the news.

“I almost broke down then.”
DoctorFahim continued. “It seemed fate had ordained that
my plan would never work. I did not know what to do. But then I decided. If I could not win
one way, I would try another. If, by accident, I had chosen the perfect person for the job, I
would use him to achieve my goal. And so I helped prepare Neel for his trip to the Phlicer
lab. I watched him find the casket,and finally got the container away from Mehta‟s control.”

There was a long silence. Divya‟s mind was in a whirl. She could not believe how easily
they had all been fooled, how much danger Neel had been in, betrayed by someone he trusted
so much.

“Why did you do it?” Divya asked, her voice filled with anger. “Betraying your friends,
using us all as bait. Dear god,
you almost broke Neel’s will to live
. How could you do that?”

 

“I had no choice Divya.” Doctor Fahim said, misery etched deep across his face.

 

“Why do you say that?” Divya demanded. “
Why is Mehta’s project so important to
you
?”

Doctor Fahim took a deep, shuddering breadth. He seemed to be having trouble
breathing. “I hear the pain in your voice.” he whispered finally.“The pain is deeper because
I was like a father to you, yet I betrayed you. What value would you place then, on actual ties
of blood that connect us to our family? What would you say then, if I tell you that the person
inside that container
is my real son
.”

Divya stared at the tortured face of the doctor, struck dumb with shock.

 

Doctor Fahim nodded slowly. “Yes, Divya. This is my son Asif Fahim. And I am
responsible for the state he is in today.I… and the serum.”

 

Divya could not speak. She had gotten more shocks in one day than she had in years.
Her mind was in a whirl, unable to process all the information.

 

“How…?” she whispered finally. “What do you mean?”

Doctor Fahim was silent for a long time, remembering once again those first few days,
which seemed centuries ago now. How excited he had been when he had found out about
DoctorThompson‟s research. How eagerly he had helped his mentor uncover the secret of
those apes. He had had so many hopes for the serum. And now he wished he had never heard
of it.

“Thirty years ago,” he said thickly. “I was
a professor of bio chemistry in Delhi. I was
extremely interested in practical research, and had published many papers on the properties of
biocatalysts. These papers were acknowledged the world over. I had become quite famous
among the members of my profession. But my personal life was in ruins. My wife, whom I
loved more than anyone else in the world, had died while giving birth to our son. Asif was the
living image of his mother. But he was born with severe birth defects. He was paralyzed from
the waist down and at that time, since no therapy for paralysis was known, the disease was
allowed to spread over his entire body. Most of the money I made went towards keeping him
alive. But even then, he did not have a lot of hope for recovery.”

“
And then one day I received a call from Doctor Warren Thompson. He had taught me
at one time and was very impressed by my aptitude for biochemistry. During one of his
expeditions, he had found a natural phenomenon unlike anything the world had ever known,
and he invited me to help him with his researches on it.”

“I decided to accept his offer. My son was permanently installed in the hospital. I had
been left enough money from my parents to keep us both going for a few years. And in my
heart, I hoped DoctorThompson‟s researches would find a cure for my son. So I packed my
few belongings, arranged for the hospital to get regular payments for my son‟s care, and went
to join DoctorThompson.”

“When I arrived at the camp, the doctor explained to me the nature of his discovery. I
was amazed and delighted. My interest had always been in research and here was an
opportunity to study something extraordinary. I confess, for a time I was so consumed by my
work that I even forgot my son. I worked night and day with Doctor Thompson to understand
the chimpanzee‟s unique neurology.”

Doctor Fahim gazed at Divya
. “You already know mostof this story.” he said.
“However, there was one detail that I had always left out before. At that time, another young
student had joined our research. His arrival was not planned, but he helped tremendously in
our research.”

Divya stared at him. Finally, she was starting to understand. “Alok Mehta.” she
whispered.

Doctor Fahim nodded.
“When you were briefing Neelon Mehta‟s past, you mentioned
that for some years he disappeared from India and was suspected to be involved with terrorist
groups. One day the tribe‟s men brought a young man to Doctor Thompson. He was half dead
with starvation and close to death. The tribesmen nursed him back to health. When he had
recovered, he thanked us for our help but refused to tell us where he had come from. I do not
know where he had traveled, or if he really was involved with terrorist groups, but I realize
now he joined our group to hide himself. At first he merely helped with the manual labor,
doing it far better than the tribesmen, but soon, he showed an outstanding aptitude for
research. I and Doctor Thompson were too delighted with him to worry about his mysterious
past. He was always polite and helpful, although he kept a certain distance between himself
and everyone else. Together, we fell into our work with tremendous energy.”

Doctor
Fahim sighed, looking at Divya. “Those were good days. Our goals were simple
and purely academic. Much like your and my days together at the beginning. There were no
thoughts about personal gain. Simply the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. Or so I
thought…”