A. N. T. I. D. O. T. E. (7 page)

‘That doesn’t help much. We don’t know who they were or where they were from and there’s no way the police would buy a story like that.’

‘Hhmm!’ Nosh agreed reluctantly. ‘I wonder why they wiped out your mum’s disk?’

‘Obviously because there was something on it that they didn’t want Mum or anyone else to see or keep,’ I replied. ‘But if it was the Marcus Pardela memo, why not just delete that one file?’

‘I wonder if it
was
that?’ Nosh spoke more to himself than to me.

‘This is so frustrating.’ I slammed my hand against the table, which was stupid because I came off worse! ‘If I could just begin to make sense of one thing, then maybe everything else would fall into place but at the moment I feel like I’m rushing around in all directions in the dark.’

‘I take it your mum didn’t phone you this morning?’

I shook my head.

‘Should we go on the ANTIDOTE protest march?’ Nosh asked. ‘It seems to me that that’s the most likely place now to find some answers.’

‘OK,’ I agreed. ‘I don’t see that we’ve got much to lose. We could go with Halle and her boyfriend …’

‘You must be nuts!’ Nosh told me indignantly. ‘I’m not going anywhere with those two.’

‘But …’

‘No way,’ said Nosh.

And that was the end of that. After one last look at the PC screen, I turned off the processor.

We spent the rest of the morning trying to return the house to normal. Nosh’s dad phoned a glazier who promised to arrive within the hour to fix the glass in the kitchen window.

‘I don’t have enough money to pay him,’ I told Nosh’s dad reluctantly.

‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay and I’ll sort it out with your mum later,’ Nosh’s dad insisted.

He was being so nice, I felt guilty for all the begrudging thoughts I’d had about him the night before. When it got to half-twelve, most of the house was back to normal.

‘Mum, Dad, d’you mind if Elliot and I go out? I think Elliot needs to get away from here for a while,’ Nosh said.

‘Where will you go?’ Nosh’s mum asked.

‘We thought we could go to the pictures or something,’ Nosh told them.

I kept my mouth shut, wondering why he didn’t just tell them that we wanted to join the ANTIDOTE march.

‘D’you need any money?’

‘No, we’ve got enough,’ Nosh replied.

‘OK, just be back home by five,’ Nosh’s mum said at last.

‘Thanks, Mum,’ Nosh smiled.

‘And don’t worry, Elliot, we’ll keep a close eye on the house,’ Nosh’s dad added.

‘Thanks,’ I said gratefully.

As we left the house, I asked, ‘What was that all about?’

‘Mum and Dad would never have let us go on the ANTIDOTE march,’ Nosh explained. ‘They cut up rough when Halle said she wanted to go, and in the end they only agreed because scabby Julian said he was going with her.’

‘Why’re they so against the idea?’

Nosh lowered his voice. ‘They reckon with any march that big, you’re bound to get some yobbos coming along just to make trouble.’

‘Then maybe we should hook up with Halle and her boyfriend, just to be on the safe side?’ I suggested.

‘No. Besides, there’s nothing Halle would like better than to run home and tell Mum and Dad that we went on the march.’

I shrugged. I wasn’t going to argue but I thought Nosh was making a mistake.

An hour later we caught up with the ANTIDOTE march when they were less than a kilometre away from Shelby and Pardela Pharmaceuticals. The crowd of
people
marching in the protest seemed to be at least a mile long in itself. Four abreast, people were holding banners and placards railing against Shelby’s. The police who walked alongside were few and far between. They obviously didn’t expect that much trouble. And the faces of the officers I could see looked more cheesed off at having to be there in the first place, than worried or alert. We had a scout about but we could see no sign of Halle and Julian. Nosh was more relieved than anything else.

‘Let’s walk a bit faster to the front of the march,’ I suggested. ‘That ANTIDOTE woman I saw on the telly – what was her name? – Sarah Irving, she’s bound to be at the front somewhere.’

‘D’you know any of the other heads of ANTIDOTE?’ Nosh asked.

‘Only their names. Let’s see … there was Somebody Macmillan – I think his name was Ian. Rohan Adjava – I remember his name ’cause it reminded me of coffee – and my uncle, of course.’

‘Never mind. If any of them are here, we’ll find them. Let’s search for Sarah Irving,’ said Nosh.

We started to make our way through the crowd.

‘What happens when we find her?’ I asked, turning my head every which way in the hope of spying her. ‘I mean, she might be the Shelby agent.’

‘We’ll just have to be very careful,’ Nosh shrugged.

Which was a big help! Nosh spotted them first –
Halle
and her boyfriend. They were halfway down the march, each holding one end of a banner.

‘Don’t let them see us,’ Nosh hissed.

We bent low and skirted the outside of the march, making a run for it once we were past them.

‘Phew! That was close,’ said Nosh when we straightened up.

To be honest, I still didn’t see what all that cloak-and-dagger stuff was about, but I didn’t say anything. After all, Halle was Nosh’s sister, not mine.

The march reached the Shelby building before we got anywhere near the front.

‘I hope we haven’t fought our way to the front for nothing,’ I frowned, still looking around.

‘Look!’ Nosh pointed to the huge, wrought-iron Shelby gates.

A woman and a man, their arms laden down with masses of paper, were arguing with the eight security guards at the gates. Nosh and I scooted past the two policemen at the front of the march who were trying to hold everyone back, and ran up to the gates.

‘I told you, all we want to do is deliver this petition,’ the woman said angrily.

‘And I told you that you can deliver it to me,’ said the head security guard, who looked just like a Nazi guard out of one of those old-time war films.

‘I want to make sure it gets to Marcus Pardela,’ said the woman.

‘It will,’ the guard insisted.

‘We’re not moving until I deliver this to the main reception.’

‘That’s up to you,’ said the guard. ‘I get paid whether you’re here or not. No skin off my nose!’

The man and woman moved back a bit to talk to each other in private. They didn’t notice Nosh and me listening.

‘Sarah, we’re wasting our time. They’re never going to let us pass,’ said the man.

‘Ian, I’m not leaving without handing in our petition to the receptionist or someone on the inside of the building. If we give it to that security guard, it’ll get filed under “B”!’

‘He won’t put it in the bin. Not if we tell him that we’ll be insisting that Marcus Pardela answer some of the points raised in the document attached to the petition. If we say that then he’ll have no choice but to hand it over.’

‘You think so?’ Sarah asked doubtfully.

‘It’s worth a try,’ Ian replied.

‘Are you Ian Macmillan?’ I asked the man.

He gave a start, then frowned down at me. ‘Who wants to know?’

‘Robert Gaines is my uncle,’ I explained.

His eyes widened. Immediately the expression on his face changed.

‘You must be Elliot,’ he smiled. ‘I’m sorry to be so
surly
but it’s been a long morning and it looks like being a longer afternoon.’

‘Hi, I’m Sarah Irving.’The woman held out her hand which I shook. ‘We’re really sorry about your mum and uncle. We’re doing everything we can to get the situation resolved. Our lawyers are working on it right now.’

‘Have you seen my uncle? Is he all right?’ I asked, eagerly.

A look passed between Sarah and Ian.

‘No, we haven’t seen him. Not yet,’ Sarah replied. ‘We thought we’d go to see him this afternoon or maybe tomorrow.’

‘Where is he?’ I asked.

‘He’s being held at the local police station until he appears before magistrates on Monday morning,’ said Sarah.

I was puzzled. I was sure the police had said Uncle Robert would appear before magistrates today, not on Monday. I’d obviously got it wrong.

‘Has Mum been in touch with you?’ I asked, after a brief pause.

‘No, not yet.’The two grown-ups exchanged another glance. This time Ian spoke. ‘We were hoping she’d get in touch with us. To be honest, we’re not quite sure where she fits into all of this. So she hasn’t been in touch with you either?’

I shook my head, saying the words, ‘Not today …’ in my mind, so that it wasn’t a complete lie.

‘The police say they have CCTV evidence that shows Uncle Robert and Mum breaking into Shelby’s …’ I began.

‘Yeah, we were sent a copy of the recording, too – no doubt to rub our noses in it,’ said Ian with disgust.

‘Did … did your Uncle Robert tell you what he and your mother intended to do?’ Sarah asked.

‘You make it sound like they both did it,’ I snapped out at her.

‘But we’ve seen the video …’ Sarah began.

‘I don’t care. Mum said that footage was faked …’

It was only when I felt Nosh’s warning hand on my arm that I realized what I’d said.

‘I mean, Mum would say it was a fake if she was here,’ I finished weakly.

From the look on Ian’s and Sarah’s faces, it was obvious I hadn’t fooled them for a second.

‘Is there any chance of my seeing the recording, please?’ I asked.

‘We are rather busy at the moment …’ Sarah frowned.

‘Please,’ I pleaded. ‘I haven’t seen my mum since late yesterday afternoon and my uncle’s been arrested. I just want to look at it to see what the evidence is against them. It would help me to try and make sense of what’s going on.
Please
.’

Ian frowned at me then turned to Sarah. ‘Look, Sarah, you can deliver this petition with Jack and some
of
the others. I’ll take Elliot to the office. It’s only a five-minute walk from here and it won’t take long.’

‘But Ian, you’re needed here,’ Sarah argued.

‘Sarah, you’re in charge and we both know you can handle things perfectly well without me,’ Ian smiled. ‘Besides, Robert has helped me out of a few sticky situations in the past. The least I can do is help his nephew now.’

Sarah didn’t look the least bit happy but I didn’t care. Scrutinizing her through narrowed eyes, I reckoned she was mean enough to be the Shelby agent. I turned to smile at Nosh. We were going to see the video. That was a step in the right direction at any rate. At last I was making progress. Just the thought that I was
doing
something felt good.

Nosh and I made our way through the front of the crowd, followed by Ian. This old biddy arrived from nowhere and tried to push past me. I’m surprised she didn’t just lift me up and move me bodily out of her way. She was wearing a floppy hat held on by a faded scarf which hid most of her face, and slung over her arm was a grubby raincoat.

‘Excuse me all over the place!’ I said indignantly.

But she’d already trodden on my left foot, elbowed me in the ribs and gone forward to assault someone else. I turned to scowl at her. My mum wouldn’t let me get away with anything like that, but many grown-ups don’t even have two manners in their bodies to keep each
other
company! That was one of my mum’s truer sayings. And she’d got it from my nan!

‘She bashed into me, too,’ Nosh sniffed. ‘Some people!’

‘Let’s duck down one of these side roads. It’ll be faster,’ Ian suggested.

As soon as we’d turned off the main street it was as if the decrease volume button on a TV remote had been pressed. The increasing peace gave me a chance to think about the video we were about to see.

‘D-Did Uncle Robert try to break into Shelby’s Pharmaceuticals for ANTIDOTE?’ I didn’t want to, but I had to ask. I had to
know
.

Ian gave me a considering look.

‘The CCTV seems to indicate that he did …’ he began.

‘But did you
ask
him to?’ I questioned urgently.

Ian looked up and down the street before turning back to me.

‘Elliot, sometimes … sometimes you have to do the wrong thing for the right reason,’ Ian said softly.

So I had my answer.

‘Mum always says “Two wrongs don’t make a right”,’ I told him.

‘Does she also say “The end justifies the means”?’

‘Not that I remember,’ I replied.

‘I’m sure in this case, she would,’ Ian told me.

‘The only end result I can see is that my uncle is
locked
up and my mum is missing,’ I said coldly.

‘Yes, that is rather unfortunate …’ Ian muttered.

I don’t think I was meant to hear that bit, but I did.
Unfortunate
! Not winning the national lottery was
unfortunate
. What had happened to my family was disastrous! It’s amazing how fast you can go off some people. As I glowered up at Ian, I found myself liking Sarah Irving more and more.

You did it! You’re the Shelby agent! I decided as I regarded Ian.

I clamped my lips together tightly, trying my best not to rant at him but my blood was boiling.

‘So who has the original of the footage you’re going to show us?’ Nosh leapt in just as I opened my mouth – which was probably just as well.

‘The police, I assume,’ said Ian.

‘And there’s no doubt at all about it being Elliot’s uncle?’ Nosh questioned.

‘None. You’ll see for yourself in a minute,’ Ian told us.

We walked on in silence with Ian leading the way, each of us deep in thought. Five minutes later, we entered an unmarked door between a stationery shop and an Italian restaurant and headed up some stairs. At the top of the stairs, there was a huge open-plan office with tables and PCs and a fax machine and a large photocopier scattered about. A lean man and a tiny woman sat at one of the desks, both peering at a computer screen. The rest of the place was deserted.

‘Hi, Rohan. Still working?’ Ian called over to the man.

‘Yep! I still can’t figure out why our network went down yesterday,’ Rohan sighed.

‘You’ll work it out,’ Ian said confidently.

‘Hopefully before I die of starvation!’ the woman next to Rohan complained.