A. N. T. I. D. O. T. E.

by Malorie Blackman

‘Nosh, I’m sure those two men were lying about my uncle. There’s no way he’d not come and see me once he was out.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  I didn’t answer. That was the trouble. I wasn’t sure of anything any more. My thoughts switched to Mum’s phone. Those two men were desperate to get their hands on it. Why? It was even more urgent that I crack Mum’s password. But what to do in the meantime?

  ‘Are you all right?’ I asked Nosh quietly.

  He looked straight ahead. He didn’t even acknowledge that he’d heard me. I was just about to ask the same question again when Nosh spoke. And still he didn’t look at me.

  ‘I’m scared,’ he confessed.

  I looked straight ahead, too. ‘So am I,’ I admitted.

  And the worst thing was, I wasn’t just scared for Mum or my uncle any more. I was scared for myself. I felt cowardly and guilty at the thought, but it was the truth.

  I was scared of what I was getting myself – and Nosh – into.

  Chapter Eleven

  Dangerous

  ‘WHERE ON EARTH have you two been? We’ve been worried sick.’

  The moment the front door opened, I knew Nosh and I were in for it – and I didn’t have to wait long to be proved right either. Nosh’s mum looked about ready to go ballistic.

  ‘It was all my fault, Mrs Grisham,’ I said quickly. ‘I went to see my Uncle Robert. I just wanted to make sure he was OK and I asked Nosh to come with me.’

  Nosh took a quick glance at me but said nothing.

  ‘Elliot, I understand that this must be a very confusing time for you and I understand your wanting to see your uncle, but I specifically asked you to be back here by five. It is now after six,’ Nosh’s mum said, trying to keep her voice under control.

  ‘Yes, I know. I’m very sorry.’ And I was. What more could I say? Nosh’s mum and dad had been great to me and I hated causing them all this trouble. ‘Maybe I should just go back next door. I’m sure Mum will be home …’

  ‘Don’t be silly. You can’t stay in your house by yourself,’ Nosh’s mum immediately dismissed. ‘I want the two of you to promise me that when I tell you to be home by a certain time then you’ll make sure that you are.’

  ‘We promise.’

  ‘We promise.’

  ‘Then we’ll say no more about it,’ Nosh’s mum smiled. ‘I’ve saved you both some dinner, although it’s probably a dried-out mess in the oven by now.’

  Nosh’s mum turned and led the way to the kitchen. I looked into the living room as we passed by. Halle was sitting in an armchair, reading a magazine. She looked up at me and smiled, before returning to her magazine.

  Then it hit me! Like a light bulb thrown at the back of my head! Halle was perfect! Ideal! I’d had a brilliant idea and if Halle would just go along with it, then all my problems – well, most of them – would be solved. I knew Nosh wouldn’t like the idea, but tough! The only trouble was, how to convince Halle.

  ‘You didn’t have to take the blame for me,’ Nosh whispered.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Telling Mum that you asked me to come with you. We both know that wasn’t true,’ said Nosh.

  ‘It doesn’t matter. Besides, I didn’t want to get you into any more trouble with your mum and dad,’ I said.

  ‘I can handle them,’ Nosh said with disdain.

  I was saved from answering by Nosh’s mum producing a cottage pie out of the oven. The potato at the top was a bit dried-out and crusty but beggars couldn’t be choosers – especially when it was down to us that the pie had dried out in the first place! I had the sense to keep my mouth shut. Nosh didn’t!

  ‘Didn’t you make some gravy separately to go with the pie, Mum?’ he complained.

  What a twit! His mum was only just beginning to cool down about the two of us returning an hour later than she had told us to. With that one sentence, he managed to heat her right up again!

  ‘Nosh, you ungrateful wretch,’ she began. ‘If you’d come home when I’d told you to, then the pie wouldn’t need gravy or great dollops of tomato ketchup or anything else. And what’s more …’

  I kicked Nosh under the table. He looked at me ruefully and mouthed, ‘Sorry!’Which was too little, too late by then.

  ‘The pie’s lovely,’ I tried to placate her, but it took a good ten minutes for Nosh’s mum to calm down again. And only then because I volunteered Nosh and me to do the washing up. Which of course meant that then Nosh was mad at me.

  ‘I was just trying to help,’ I told him when his mum left the room. ‘I can’t win, can I?’

  ‘Couldn’t you have offered to do something else? I hate washing up,’ Nosh grumbled.

  ‘Quit griping. It won’t take long. Besides, I’ve had an idea and I want to run it by you,’ I told him. ‘You wash and I’ll dry.’

  ‘Why not the other way around?’

  ‘’Cause it’s your house,’ I said. And there wasn’t a lot he could say in reply!

  And as I’d guessed, he didn’t like my idea – at all.

  ‘Why do we have to include her? She’ll want to take over and know what we’re doing every step of the way,’ Nosh argued. ‘And besides which, she’s a girl!’

  ‘But she can help us,’ I said.

  ‘But … but …’ Nosh looked really unhappy. I almost felt sorry for him.

  ‘If you’ve got any better suggestions, I’m all ears!’ I told him.

  I could almost see the wheels going round in Nosh’s head as he desperately tried – and failed – to come up with something else.

  ‘I suppose it might work,’ he conceded at last. ‘If she doesn’t bog things up and make things worse.’

  ‘How could they be worse?’ I asked.

  By the time the washing up was finished and Nosh had had a chance to think over my plan, he was in a bit of a mood. I wasn’t going to let that stop me. We made our way to the living room where Halle was still reading her magazine.

  ‘You going out tonight?’ Nosh asked her.

  ‘What’s it to you, you nosy bag chops?’ Halle didn’t even lift her head to insult her brother.

  ‘Halle, can I ask you something?’ I began, before Nosh and Halle could get into another one of their ‘discussions’.

  Halle raised her head and smiled. ‘Of course you can.’

  Nosh snorted with disgust. I ignored him.

  ‘Do you still belong to ANTIDOTE?’

  ‘Yes, of course. I was on their march today,’ Halle said.

  ‘Shame they weren’t marching to Inverness!’ Nosh muttered from beside me, but this time he had the sense to keep his remarks to himself.

  ‘No, I mean – do you still officially belong to ANTIDOTE?’

  ‘Yep! Why?’

  ‘Would you be prepared to help me with something? I know it’s asking a bit much and I wouldn’t ask you at all if I could think of some other way of doing it but I can’t, and I’m desperate and …’

  ‘Elliot, I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ Halle interrupted.

  I took a deep breath to stop myself from rambling and tried to explain. ‘My uncle used to work for ANTIDOTE, before … before all this business started.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’ Halle nodded and waited for me to continue.

  ‘Well, he told my mum that there’s something … not quite right going on at ANTIDOTE. I think that’s why he and Mum were framed for something they didn’t do,’ I said. ‘So I was wondering if you could volunteer to work at the ANTIDOTE offices again. It’d only be for a few hours a day – just until the holidays are over – and then maybe you could find out a bit more about what’s going on.’

  Halle’s magazine lay forgotten on her lap. ‘Exactly what did you have in mind?’

  ‘I thought maybe if you could have a hunt around on their computers or in their filing cabinets or something, you might find out something that Mum and my uncle can use. Something that will explain all this,’ I said eagerly.

  Halle was obviously taken aback. What
ever she’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. She took a good, long look at me and said, ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’

  I nodded vigorously. ‘You’d have no problem working there because you’re old enough.’

  ‘That’s not the point. They probably won’t be able to afford me. They only take on two helpers during the summer and Christmas holidays. They can’t afford to take on a worker at any other time of the year,’ Halle frowned.

  ‘But if you tell them that you don’t even want to be paid, they’ll probably snatch your hand off!’ I beamed at her. I’d already thought about that bit.

  ‘Why should she want to work there if she doesn’t get paid?’ Nosh questioned.

  ‘That’s easy. She could say that she really believes in what ANTIDOTE are doing …’

  ‘I do really believe in what they’re doing,’ Halle shot back.

  ‘That’s what makes it even better,’ I told her. ‘You won’t have to lie.’

  ‘So let me get this straight – I’m supposed to start working there and spy on people I already know. I’m supposed to just dig around in their filing cabinets and on their computers until I find something which might, only might, mind you, help your mum and your Uncle Robert. Is that right?’

  I frowned. When she put it like that it did seem like a crazy idea.

  ‘What exactly am I meant to be looking for?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I admitted. ‘But there’s got to be something …’

  ‘What’re you not telling me?’ Halle’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘What d’you mean?’

  ‘This feels like there’s a whole chunk missing somewhere. No way am I even going to think about this until I know exactly what I’m letting myself in for,’ Halle said.

  Whatever else she was, she was nobody’s fool. I didn’t want to tell her the whole, full story. Suppose I told her and she still said no. But from the expression on her face she wasn’t going to change her mind.

  ‘It’s … it’s just that it could be dangerous …’ I said reluctantly.

  ‘Dangerous?’ she said, startled.

  ‘That’s right! Yes, it could!’ Nosh’s eyes took on a sudden gleam of delight. ‘Say you’ll do it, Halle!’

  ‘Nosh, this isn’t a joke,’ I told him.

  ‘I know.’ Nosh beamed devilishly, still relishing the idea of the trouble his sister could get into.

  After giving Nosh the filthiest look I’ve ever seen, Halle turned to me and asked, ‘Just exactly how might this be dangerous? And I want the whole story or nothing doing.’

  Nosh quickly shook his head at me. I had Halle’s full attention. It was decision time. Should I tell her everything that was going on or not?

  ‘D’you promise not to tell your parents or anyone? D’you promise to keep it to yourself – even if you say no?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘And you won’t tell your boyfriend – butt-features?!’ Nosh said suspiciously.

  Halle scowled at her brother then turned to me. ‘You have my word, Elliot.’

  So I told her. Everything.

  Halle didn’t interrupt me once. She started once or twice, looked at me sceptically more often than that, but she didn’t interrupt. When I finished, she looked at me without blinking for a few moments.

  ‘And that’s all true?’ It was more of a statement than a question.

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t even have to nod my head.

  ‘Why on earth don’t you go to the police?’

  ‘And tell them what?’ I asked. ‘That the Shelby security video is a fake? That someone at Shelby’s is out to get my mum? They’d laugh in my face. My mum’s just a secretary …’ But even as I said it, I could hear my voice waver.

  What about the conversation between Uncle Robert and Mum? She might be a secretary now but it was clear that that hadn’t always been the case. ‘The first question they’ll ask is why would anyone at Shelby’s be out to frame my mum?’

  ‘But it doesn’t necessarily have to be someone at Shelby’s. From what you just said, it must be someone at ANTIDOTE,’ Halle pointed out.

  ‘I’ve thought of that too. But going to the police is just going to alert the Shelby agent in ANTIDOTE that we’re on to them. Then we’ll never find out who it is,’ I replied. ‘And I can’t just go in and produce the Marcus Pardela memo ’cause they’d say that I made it up myself.’

  ‘I can’t believe it.’ Halle’s eyes blazed. ‘To think that someone at ANTIDOTE works for the opposition … Show me this letter from Marcus Pardela that you say you printed off.’

  I dug it out of my pocket and handed it over. It was pretty mangled by now. Halle held it disdainfully by one corner and started to read.

  ‘But this isn’t on your mum’s PC any more?’ Halle asked when she’d finished.

  ‘There’s nothing left on my mum’s PC,’ I said gloomily. ‘It’s been completely erased. If all the files had just been deleted then I could get them back but the whole disk has been unconditionally formatted. It’s clean.’

  ‘So if I do go to work for ANTIDOTE, how will I even know what to look for?’

  That’s when I had a flash of brilliance, even if I do say so myself! I leaned forward eagerly. ‘I’m going to reinstall all Mum’s software on her PC tomorrow and configure a memory key for you to take with you on Monday. Then all you have to do is insert the memory key containing my super-snooper software onto each person’s PC and run just one file. I’ll set it up so that everything else is done for you. My program will search each computer for any information sent to or received from Marcus Pardela or that other guy – whats-hisname Shelby. It’ll copy all the information and all you’d have to do is bring the memory key back home and I’d check it here.’

  ‘Will that work?’ Halle asked doubtfully.

  I sat back, indignant. ‘Of course it’ll work. I’ll be the one setting up the software.’

  ‘Pardon me!’ Halle raised an eyebrow. ‘And when exactly am I meant to load up this memory stick?’

  ‘Plug it into each PC’s USB port in the lunch break when there’s no one around, or after work?’ I ventured.

  Halle chewed on her bottom lip. She didn’t look at all happy and, to be honest, I couldn’t blame her. It was dangerous and goodness only knew what would happen if something went wrong and she got caught. But she was my last hope.

  Please don’t say no. Please don’t say no … Please don’t say …

  ‘OK, I’ll do it. But not for you – for your mum and for ANTIDOTE. I believe in what they’re doing and I wouldn’t want to stand by and let anyone from Shelby’s jeopardize that,’ Halle said at last.

  I leapt out of the chair.

  ‘You’ll do it? You’ll really do it?’

  ‘I just said so, didn’t I,’ Halle sniffed. ‘And I’m regretting it already.’

  ‘Thank you.’ I bounded round the room, unable to keep still. ‘We’ll find out who the Shelby agent is and then get them to admit to the police that my mum and uncle were framed for something they didn’t do. Yippee!’

  ‘Hold your horses.’ Halle put out a hand. ‘Before we start making a carrot cake, we’ve got to dig up the carrots first.’

  That slowed me down a bit. I was getting ahead of myself but it had to work, it just had to.

  ‘OK. You sort out the software I’m meant to use and I’ll take it from there. But don’t count your chickens. ANTIDOTE might not even want me to work there,’ said Halle.

  ‘Of course they will,’ I grinned at her. ‘You’ll just have to charm them.’

  ‘Then she doesn’t stand a chance,’ Nosh stage-whispered from behind me.

  Both Halle and I turned round to glower at him. He shrank into the chair and shut up – for once!

  Chapter Twelve

  Nine-Fifteen

  UP AND DOWN, up and down. Stop and wait. Up and down. Stop and wait. On and on. And still the phone didn’t ring. Admittedly, I was still a couple of minutes ahead of time. Nine-fift
een the note had said.

  ‘Elliot, sit down for goodness’ sake. You’re making me dizzy,’ Nosh complained. He sat halfway up the stairs, watching me.

  ‘It’s all right for you,’ I glared.

  ‘No, it isn’t,’ Nosh interrupted. ‘We’re friends, aren’t we? If you’re upset, I’m upset.’

  I briefly smiled at him, grateful that I wasn’t totally alone in all this. I sat down on the second-to-last stair and waited. I’m not very good at waiting. In fact it’s one of my worst things. I’d always much rather be doing than watching and waiting.

  The house was in darkness apart from the hall, and perfectly still. I thought about what had happened so far – what I’d done or not done, what I’d achieved. It didn’t seem like much. But what else could I do? Halle would get a job at ANTIDOTE (hopefully) and find something to connect someone at ANTIDOTE with Shelby’s and then maybe I could use that information to force the Shelby agent at ANTIDOTE to help Mum and Uncle Robert. That’s all I wanted. The agent could tell the police that Mum and Uncle Robert had been framed, that they were innocent. I didn’t particularly care what happened after that.

  The sudden shrill ring of the phone startled me. I rushed over and snatched it up.

  ‘Hello?’

  Silence.

  I tried again. ‘Hello?’

  The phone clicked faintly back at me.

  ‘Hello, dear. Are you all right?’

  ‘Mum! Oh, Mum, I’m fine. I miss you. Where are you? It’s good to hear your voice.’ I could feel myself choking up, even though I’d just spent the last few hours telling myself I wouldn’t.

  The phone line clicked again.

  ‘Are you still staying over at Nosh’s house?’

  ‘Yes, Mum.’

  ‘Good. Not giving them any trouble?’

  ‘Not much,’ I said, remembering what had happened earlier. ‘When can I see you, Mum?’

  Click …

  ‘I’m working on it. I’m missing you horribly, Elliot,’ Mum sighed.

  ‘You sound tired.’

  ‘I am tired,’ Mum admitted. ‘It’s taking longer than I thought to try and clear my name.’

  ‘I saw the recording that’s meant to be of you and Uncle Robert,’ I said eagerly. ‘You were right. It had been doctored.’