by Neeraj Chand
Four rings… no response Five rings… Neel was about to hang up when someone finally picked up. The voices coming from the other side were very low and muffled, as though the receiver on the mobile was covered with something. But Neel heard the words easily. He stood motionless on top of the building, listening to the conversation on the other end, surprise turning to stunned disbelief.
CHAPTER 18: A Face from the Past Doctor Fahim watched the play of emotions on Divya"s face: shock mingled with horror, confusion and anguish. He wished desperately that he could lessen the pain she was feeling. But there was nothing he could do. Divya was never meant to become a victim to this whole disaster. He had tried everything in his power to protect his protégé throughout this business, and now... now all he could do was try to explain. There was so much that she did not understand.
“I am sorry it has come to this ,Divya.” Doctor Fahim said, coming to stand in front of her and gazing at her sadlythrough the barred window. “You were never meant to become involved to this extent.”
Divya said nothing, her mind still numb from shock. The one person she had trusted more than any other… “I can"t -I want you to understand… I had no choice …” For once the doctor was at a loss for words. He searched in his mind for a way to make her understand, but still no words came.
“It was you…” Divya whispered, her mind finally emerging fromits state of shock. “All this time… wrecking the project… helping Mehta… trying to kill Neel.” The doctor winced at every indictment, as though each accusation was physically hurting him. He did not seem like the Doctor Fahim she remembered, the man who had guided her for so many years, whose strength of character and honor were legendary. He simply looked like a feeble old man, whom a strong gust of wind might blow away.
“How did find out about me?” h e asked finally in a soft voice. “My door was locked, yet you tried to force your way in. I barely had time to get the chloroform tablets. Obviously, you wanted to investigate my study. Why?”
Divya stared at him, breathing hard. “I remembered, when Neel was looking for the project Mehta was working on in the lab, you told him to look for an area where something human sized could be stored. Even though at that time we thought Mehta was involved in nuclear weapons research, and we had no idea he was conducting experiments on human subjects.”
DoctorFahim nodded slowly. “That was careless of me.” he said. “But I was in an extremely disturbed state at that time. For aninstant, I forgot caution.” “Then I searched through the files on project Kumbhkaran.” Divya said. “I found a reference to Africa, and some of the basic elements used in the creation of the monster inside that container. It was the same compound used to create the serum in project Alpha.” Divya stared at Doctor Fahim as though she wasseeing him clearly for the first time. “You were helping Mehta all the time. You had betrayed us from the start.”
But Doctor Fahim shook his head soberly. “Not in quitethe way you believe.”
* * * Arjun followed the police sergeant down the line of cells to the second last one on the left. He nodded to the guard, who hesitated, looking at him uncertainly for a second. But the General"s orders were clear: Do exactly as the man says as quickly as possible. The guard unlocked the cell where prisoner no. 39 was kept and gave the key to Arjun. Then he swung around wordlessly and went out of the corridor.
Arjun stared at the cell number, weighing his next move. He did not really hope for a great deal from this visit. But information was what they needed at the moment. He unlocked the door of the tiny cell, which contained only one prisoner.
Even in his striped prison clothes, Alok Mehta managed to look distinguished. The walls of the room were so dirty it was hard to tell what their original color was supposed to be. The room contained only a single cot with a paper thin blanket, which could hardly be of any help in cold weather. The entire hall stank with the smell of dozens of criminals, many of them squeezed into one room, few of whom felt inclined to take baths, and there was an air of repressed violence and despair in the atmosphere. But Mehta did not seem to notice these things. He was sitting comfortably on the cot, his back against the wall, making no attempt to avoid the dirt around him. Yet there was something in his manner which clearly signaled that he did not belong there.
On Arjun"s arrival Mehta lifted his head and stared at him. Physically, the two men were complete opposites, Arjun"s tanned features and broad shouldered build presenting a striking contrast to Mehta"s thin frame and pale, almost white skin. Yet there was something similar about them which they both sensed in each other. Each had an impression of the force of the others personality, and knew neither could be frightened easily.
They stared at each other for a long moment, both there gazes steady. Mehta was watching him with the disturbingly impersonal gaze of a scientist inspecting a specimen. Arjun would have expected more of an emotion from a man whose empire had come crumbling down around him. Finally, he broke the silence.
“Why are you still doing this?” he asked, his voice tight with anger. “It"s over, you"ve lost. What can you gain from these killings now?” Mehta look ed at him thoughtfully. “It will not be over till I say it is.” he said. Then he smiled, a mere tightening of the corners of his mouth, as though he only did it to keep up the pretense of a normal conversation. “And yet, you must have realized I would not let you ruin my life and get away with it without getting some small revenge. Rules were broken, and now someone must pay.”
“Who is your partner?” Arjun asked abruptly. “Who is the spy you placed in our midst?” “I did not plant anyone anywhere.” Mehta replied calmly, still watching him with the curiously intent gaze. “I have always had an inside source on project Alpha. I knew about that project before you were ever called in to it, before it was even givenits name.”
Arj un stared at him, trying to hide the shock he felt. “How?” he demanded finally. “How could you know? What have you done with Divya? And how did you get a bomb inside our headquarters?”
Mehta leaned forward, and for the first time, something like interest showed in his expression. “A bomb?” he repeated. “When did this happen?” Arjun grabbed Mehta by the collar and threw him against the wall. “Don"t push me.” he growled. “You sent someone to plant a bomb in DoctorFahim"s study to kill him, and I want to know how you did it.”
Mehta sat up straight, nodding thoughtfully. “So that"s how he managed it.” he muttered, almost to himself. “I was wondering how he would do it.” He looked at Arjun, and for the first time seemed truly amused.“So you think Doctor Fahim is dead, and that I had him killed?”
Arjun stared at him, feeling strangely troubled by those expressionless eyes.
“I am afraid,” Mehta said quietly, “there is a lot that you do not know about Doctor Fahim.”
* * * Doctor Fahim walked over to the center of the hall, to where the pile of equipment was kept. Suddenly, something vibrated in Divya"s pocket. For a moment she was confused. Then she remembered the mobile she had taken earlier. Someone was calling her. She prayed it was Neel or Arjun or the General. Doctor Fahim was trying to compose himself. When he turned to face Divya again, he looked more like his old self.
“You deserve to know the truth, Divya. You need to know whyI did all this.” Doctor Fahim said. “Perhaps then you will understand the situation, and try to forgive me.” “How can you possibly explain this?” Divya asked, her pain turning to anger. Slowly, showing as little movement as possible, she put her hand in her pocket and pressed the speak button on the mobile. “You betrayed us all. Your mentor, your colleagues, your country. How could you do this?You were like a father to me. I trusted you.”
Doctor Fahim flinched, as though the words had opened an old wound.
“Then perhaps it will beeasier for you to understand.” he whispered.
He glanced briefly at the container, then turned back to Divya. “Almost a year ago, we were on the brink of perfecting the serum.” Doctor Fahim said. “We were being funded by t
he Indian government, and after more than three decades of hard work, it seemed that I had at last succeeded. I dreamt of an army of super soldiers, deadly but loyal, powerful but humble, protecting our nation from the threats which usually cost us so much bloodshed and money. I felt that the debt I owed was finally paid.”
“What debt?” Divya demanded. “You will understand soon.” DoctorFahim said. “But first you need to know the truth about what has been happening at Swan Labs. The serum was almost finished, and the army officials were coming to see me in less than a month to confirm my discovery.” Doctor Fahim paused, his eyes far away as he recalledthat fateful night. “Alok Mehta had been following my career for many years. Even though the security around the project was extremely tight, Mehta knew all too well what I was working on. When the delegates from the government started to visit me often, he knew I had completed the project. One night he called me at my house.” DoctorFahim paused again, struggling to control his feelings. “He told me that he was fully aware of what I had been working on. He congratulated me on completing the project. He informed me that he had been working on something similar himself, which the Indian government was trying to find out about. He had repulsed all their attempts to uncover his secret, and he knew they were going to send a super soldier after him. He then told me about his own project. The work he had done to create his own army of enhancedhumans. He left it up to me to decide what I should do about the matter.”
Doctor Fahim looked extremely old as he sat slumped in his chair, his face drawn, his shoulders sagging. “Sleep was impossible that night. I had not felt such a tremendous mix of emotions since I first found out about the serum from Doctor Thompson, all those years ago. I was simultaneously exhilarated and horrified. I was paying the price for a mistake I had committed years ago. And yet, it was also the one chance fate had given me to redeem myself.”
Divya wanted to know what the mistake was, but she also wanted to know what Doctor Fahim had done after getting the phone call. She said nothing, deciding to let Doctor Fahim tell it his own way.
“There was only one thought that was absolutely clear. I could not let the project continue. The work which would have been my salvation had suddenly become the bane of my existence. One way or another, I had to stop the work that I myself had started.” Doctor Fahim sat for a moment, contemplating his long, thin fingers.
“But of course, it was not goingto be so easy.” he said finally, looking up at Divya again. “Too many people knew about the project. The Prime Minister was personally involved in the matter, and once the serum was passed to the army, the matter would pass out of my hands forever. I debated for days on which course to pursue. Then an idea occurred to me. What if the test subject exhibited some undesirable qualities after taking the serum? Some qualities that would prove the serum is bad for the health of the soldiers? I realized there was only one option left. If somehow, the serum could be made to look defective, the project would be scrapped. I only had to think of a way of making it seem so.”
“And then I remembered a piece of information we had discovered during our studies. We had found that the serum worked even more powerfully on youngsters then adults. At the time, it had merely been more data to be filed away with the rest of the information about the serum, but now it gave me the beginning of a possible plan.”
“What do you mean?” Divya demanded.“How could you plan Neel"s involv-” She stopped abruptly, her eyes growing wide with horror as she understood what the doctor meant.
Doctor Fahim averted his face from Divya"s accusing gaze. “It seemed like the only way. The project was going to go forward no matter what I said. But if an inexperienced youth was given the power, his blunders might shut down the project.”
Doctor Fahim sighed, kneading his brow with his knuckles. “And so I made my plan. The plan was based on the soundest grounds based on the psychology of a fourteen year old. But that is the problem with scientific conjectures. A single fact overlooked, just one oversight in opinion, and the entire theory falls apart. The image I had in my mind of teenagers, the image most people of my age have about the very young, turned out to be erroneous.”
“But how?” Divya demanded. “How could you carry out such a plan? What happened with Neelwas just an accident.” She was praying the doctor had not sunk as low as she feared.
“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 han
dled 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.”
