Free Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel by Neeraj Chand Page A

Neel and his mother had moved in. No one knew what it was supposed to be. It
had no roof at the top, so they had placed a makeshift covering of tin sheets on it which
creaked loudly whenever the wind blew too hard. The windows and door of the room were
also empty, and it was not possible to use it as an ordinary room. It had been nicknamed the
nest by Neel‟s mother since Neel, Aryan and Priyanka used to spend so much time there
when they had been very young. It had been a favorite playing area for them, and there still
remained a blue chest beneath the bench in a corner of the room which was crammed with
their old toys.
    Neel sat on the three old benches, and gave himself up to speculating about what was
going to him when he met Doctor Fahim. The doctor had said he was going to become a part
of the experiment, and trained to use his powers correctly. Since this was a government
operation, he was fairly certain that meant being trained like the soldiers in the army. He
wondered whether he would be enlisted in the army or the navy or the air force when his
training ended. Images from various movies filled his mind. His thoughts drifted dreamily
through James Bond, Universal Soldier, The Matrix and The Terminator. Perhaps it would be
cooler to be the T-1000 rather than 007. Or better yet, Neo. As he dwelt on the possible
future, his imagination soared, and he became lost in daydreams where he had become the
youngest army recruit in the history of the world, and saw himself felling thousands of
enemies with effortless blows, forgetting for the moment that he had never been in any actual
fights outside mock wrestling matches with Aryan on their beds, and the playground in the
nursery, where the most he had ever done was roll around a lot in the dirt with a classmate
until the teacher stopped them.
    The daydreams only served to increase his feelings of nervousness and excitement, and
he spent the rest of the time again wandering around the house, switching on the television,
flipping through magazines and listening to songs, glancing repeatedly at the clock.
    Finally, at ten o‟ clock he had
a hasty lunch, barely noticing what he was eating. He
headed for his cycle. The accident had left the cycle severely battered, and the handle and the
carrier seat had had to be completely replaced. The tires had punctured on the day that the
accident occurred. He had had them fixed before setting out for tuitions, and now they had
been replaced as well. Except for the slightly skewed front end, the bike seemed reasonably
fine. It had once belonged to his father, and he was very fond of it. He locked his house,
pocketed the keys, swung onto his cycle and left.
    Instead of going to the coaching institute, he headed to the spot Divya had told him
about. It was outside a civic building. It seemed strange thata more private spot hadn‟t been
picked for the meeting. Neel wondered what the coaching institute had been told about his
absence. Presumably it wasn‟t a big a problem to solve for the people he was working with.
He placed his cycle in the cycle stand outside the building and waited.
Exactly at eleven, a white, nondescript car with a dirty bumper and tinted glasses
appeared on his side of the road, stopping in front of Neel.
    He peered through the front window as it was rolled down. The car was empty except
for the driver, a broad shouldered man with dark eyes and a quiet, watchful expression. His
hair was cut short and he wore a plain, dark grey shirt. He had a slight, scraggly beard and
moustache that did not hide the determined jaw. He stared intently at the young boy for a
moment, as though silently assessing him.
“Hello,Neel.” the man said finally in a deep, quiet voice, leaning out the side of the car.
“I‟m supposed to take you to DoctorFahim.”
     
Neel hesitated, realizing that he could be making a very big mistake by getting into the
stranger‟s car. The man noted his hesitation and nodded in approval.
     
“Yes,