A. N. T. I. D. O. T. E. (10 page)

‘I’m sorry, we can’t help you. We have to go home now,’ I said. ‘Come on, Nosh, or we’ll miss our bus.’

‘We could give you a lift if you like,’ said Smiler.

A lift! With these two? Not if both my legs were broken.

‘No, thank you,’ I said.

‘Oh, come on, Elliot. We don’t bite. You’re not afraid, are you?’

‘No, but I’m not stupid either,’ I told him. ‘I’m not being funny, but I don’t know you.’

I didn’t want to turn my back and walk away from these two but at the same time, I didn’t want to hang around them either.

‘Ready, Nosh? Your mum’s expecting us for dinner.’

Nosh and I walked away from the two men, our steps getting faster and faster the further we got away from them. I hardly dared breathe as I listened intently to see if they were following us.

‘So you’re staying with your friend, are you? I’ll tell your uncle,’ Smiler called out from behind me. ‘He’s your next-door neighbour – isn’t that right?’

Goodness only knew how Nosh and I managed to keep on walking. I’d never heard anything that sounded more like a threat. It wasn’t the words so much as the way they were said, the tone of voice. It sent a chill
down
my back, like a single drop of icy water. The moment Nosh and I turned the corner, we looked at each other and
ran
. There was no talk, no verbal agreement, we both just did it. We ran and ran and didn’t relax until we were on the bus on our way back to the tube station. I kept looking behind to see if the two men were in a car following us. Or maybe they’d got on the bus after us and we’d missed them. Maybe they were upstairs just waiting for us to get off the bus so that they could follow.

I shook my head, wondering if this was indeed what they called paranoia! Every sound, every shadow made me wince and jump. If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up giving myself a heart attack or something.

And Uncle Robert? What was he doing at this precise moment? I shook my head.

‘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.

‘
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. Whatever 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.