A. N. T. I. D. O. T. E. (19 page)

‘Thank goodness! Or I’d never have got on the right track – even if we did think it was Sarah and not Ian,’ I replied. ‘Besides, it is secure as long as no one has access to your PC.’

‘Hhmm!’

I don’t think Mum was totally convinced.

‘So why did Uncle Robert say that the object of the game was to find out what the game was called?’ I remembered.

‘Just a little private joke of his.’ Mum shrugged. ‘He knew one of his colleagues was a traitor, so I suppose he was feeling a little cynical. In one of his more jaded moments, he said that’s what life was like and it’d do you no harm to learn that sooner rather than later.’

‘So the name of the game was “life”,’ I said. That certainly sounded like my uncle. But he didn’t have it completely right. Yes, you did get people like Marcus Pardela and Ian, but you also had heroes like my mum and Julian, and good friends like Nosh and his family. My mind turned to the CD … I still couldn’t get over it. After everything Nosh, Halle, Julian and I had been through! I could’ve solved the whole thing without leaving the house!

We travelled along in a companionable silence for a while. I caught Julian looking at Mum and me in his rear-view mirror a few times. He still looked upset.

‘Mrs Gaines, I … I had a reason for wanting to drive you home,’ Julian admitted. ‘I … I want to apologize for what you’ve been through. I know my apology isn’t much but …’

‘Julian, it’s not up to you to apologize for your father,’ Mum said gently.

‘No?’ Julian’s voice was bitter. ‘That’s not how I feel. I’ve been apologizing for him all my life. Saying sorry for his greed, sorry for his selfishness, sorry because I’m his son. Sorry, sorry, sorry.’

‘Then stop, Julian. Just stop. Or you’ll wake up one day and you won’t know where he ends and you begin,’ said Mum.

I wasn’t sure but I thought I knew what Mum meant.

‘Julian, I don’t blame you at all – believe me. From what I’ve seen and heard so far, I should thank you instead. I don’t think it’s too dramatic to say, you probably saved our lives.’

‘’Course I didn’t!’ Julian actually sounded embarrassed.

‘Yes, you did,’ Mum smiled. She turned to me. ‘And you, young man! When we get home I want to hear all about it. I can’t imagine how you even began all this.’

‘That’s easy. I knew you didn’t break into the Shelby
building
, so I just went from there,’ I said. ‘I wasn’t going to let them get away with that.’

Mum’s smile faded. ‘Elliot, sometimes … sometimes people do the wrong thing but for the right reason.’

‘I’m not with you,’ I said.

‘Well, for example, for a while slavery was actually legal. So if ordinary people hadn’t fought against a bad law, then it would never have been changed. And in the Second World War, the Nazis passed laws making their discrimination against Jews legal. That was a bad law, too.’

‘What has all that got to do with you and me?’ I asked.

‘Elliot, your uncle and I
did
try to break into the Shelby building. We weren’t going to steal anything. We just wanted to make a film of all the rare animals they’d smuggled into their laboratories. Some of those animals are on the endangered species list but at Shelby’s they were quite happy to use them in their experiments. Your uncle needed my help – but that doesn’t mean that I don’t take full responsibility for my own actions.’

I stared at Mum, unable to believe my ears. ‘But you told me that the CCTV recording was a fake …’

‘It
was
a fake. Your uncle and I had masks on the entire time. The footage was doctored.’

‘But … but …’

‘I decided you should know the truth,’ Mum sighed. ‘I’ve had enough of games and lies.’

I turned to face her. ‘Promise me you won’t do that any more. Promise me.’

Mum smiled at me. ‘I promise. My industrial espionage days are over. I was going to get out anyway, before all this blew up in my face.’

I regarded Mum. It was as if I was seeing her for the very first time. My mum had tried to break into the Shelby building …

‘Suppose they’d caught you – and I don’t just mean on CCTV?’ I asked.

I couldn’t help it. I was angry.

‘It was a risk we felt we had to take. If no one stands up to the Shelbys and Pardelas of this world, then they’ll soon end up ruling it,’ Mum said.

‘But you’re not going to do it any more?’ I insisted.

‘No. I think I’ll become a freelance secretary. How would that suit you?’

‘I’d like that very much.’ I replied. And it was the truth!

Malorie Blackman is one of today’s most imaginative and convincing writers for young readers. She has won numerous awards for her books, including the Red House Children’s Book Award and the Fantastic Fiction Award, and has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
Noughts & Crosses
has been adapted for the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and is soon to be a graphic novel.

In 2005 Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her contribution to the world of children’s books, and in 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature. She has been described by
The Times
as ‘a national treasure’. Malorie Blackman is the Children’s Laureate 2013–2015.

By Malorie Blackman and published by Doubleday/Corgi Books:

The Noughts & Crosses sequence

Noughts & Crosses

Knife Edge

Checkmate

Double Cross

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

Dangerous Reality

Dead Gorgeous

Hacker

Pig-Heart Boy

The Deadly Dare Mysteries

The Stuff of Nightmares

Thief!

Boys Don’t Cry

Unheard Voices

(An anthology of short stories and poems, collected by Malorie Blackman)

For junior readers, published by Corgi Yearling Books:

Cloud Busting

Operation Gadgetman!

Whizziwig and Whizziwig Returns

For beginner readers, published by Corgi Pups/Young Corgi Books:

Jack Sweettooth

Snow Dog

Space Race

The Monster Crisp-Guzzler

Audio editions available on CDs:

Noughts & Crosses

Knife Edge

Checkmate

Double Cross

Praise
for Malorie Blackman:

Noughts & Crosses

‘A book which will linger in the mind long after it has been read’
Observer

Knife Edge

‘A powerful story of race and prejudice’
Sunday Times

Checkmate

‘Another emotional hard-hitter … bluntly told and ingeniously constructed’
Sunday Times

Double Cross

‘Blackman “gets” people … she “gets” humanity as a whole, too. Most of all, she writes a stonking good story’
Guardian

Boys Don’t Cry

‘Shows her writing at its best, creating characters and a story which, once read, will not easily go away’
Independent

Pig-Heart Boy

‘A powerful story about friendship, loyalty and family’
Guardian

Hacker

‘Refreshingly new … Malorie Blackman writes with such winsome vitality’
Telegraph

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

‘Strong characterisation and pacy dialogue make this a real winner’
Independent

Thief!

‘… impossible to put down’
Sunday Telegraph

Dangerous Reality

‘A whodunnit, a cyber-thriller and a family drama: readers of nine or over won’t be able to resist the suspense’
Sunday Times

www.malorieblackman.co.uk

www.facebook.com/malorieblackman

A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E.
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 446 45378 0

Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company

This ebook edition published 2011

Text copyright © Oneta Malorie Blackman, 1996

First published in Great Britain by Doubleday

The right of Malorie Blackman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN’S Publishers UK
61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA

www.kidsatrandomhouse.co.uk
www.totallyrandombooks.co.uk
www.randomhouse.co.uk

Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP Limited Reg. No. 954009

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.