Checkmate by Malorie Blackman Read Free Book Online Page A

he was out our front door and at his house before I'd cleared the hall.
    You'd better run, boy, I thought sourly. You'd better run.
    'Mum?' said Rose, her head tilted to one side. 'What are sperms?'

nine. Meggie

    So much for my non-existent baking skills. Why was it that I could cook anything savoury, but introduce just one sugar crystal and my food became a disaster area. About the only thing I could make containing sugar which didn't go wrong was a cup of coffee. I glared down at my chocolate cake, which had sunk in the middle and was burned around the edges. It looked like a bowl. I'd followed the recipe exactly, I know I had. I couldn't take this effort into church. I could just imagine the pitying looks when my friends saw it. Maybe if I smothered it with chocolate icing and filled the middle with sweets or something . . .
    Out in the hall, my mobile phone rang. I headed out of the kitchen, glad to get away from the cake, which mocked me from every angle. Digging my mobile out of my handbag, I checked for the caller ID, but there wasn't one.
    'Meggie McGregor.'
    'Hi. It's me.'
    Just three words had my heart skipping. I took the phone back into the kitchen and closed the door, before replying.
    'Hello, son. How are you?'
    'Same as ever, Mum. And how're you?'
    'OK, I suppose. I had a nasty fall a few weeks ago.'
    'Are you OK?'
    'Yeah, I'm fine now.'
    'Why didn't you tell me?'
    'What could you have done?' I asked. 'I was several shades of purple up and down my leg for a while, but I'm fine now.'
    Jude didn't answer.
    'Where are you now?' I asked.
    'The Isis Hotel.'
    I sighed. Jude was at his regular haunt when he was down this way, but it was still only a cheap hotel. He should have had his own home by now. When was he going to stop living out of a suitcase?
    'I'm phoning because I'm going abroad tomorrow for a while,' Jude continued.
    'Why?'
    'Fundraising.'
    'Where?'
    'Anywhere where there are L.M. sympathizers. I'm following the money.'
    'You told me you weren't in the L.M. any more. You told me you didn't—'
    'I'm not part of the active body, Mum. I'm not a soldier. I just fundraise and work on the administrative side,' said Jude impatiently.
    Relieved, I started to breathe again. 'I'd like to see you before you go,' I told him.
    'I'm a bit busy . . . but OK,' said Jude.
    'Where should we meet? At a pub or—'
    'At the hotel. It's safer. I'll order room service,' said Jude.
    He gave me his room number, then rang off. Jude didn't believe in long drawn-out conversations, whether on the phone or in person. I pulled off my apron, my thoughts now totally wrapped around my only remaining son. His prison sentence was long over but the bitterness inside still held him prisoner. If I could only get him away from his L.M. colleagues. I was convinced they were the ones filling him with hatred and poisoning his soul. I'd never give up hope of showing my son that the Liberation Militia were not the way forward. At least he wasn't an active member, so that was something, but I wanted him out of that organization completely. There had to be a way to reach him, I just had to find it. I'd never stop believing that.
    And I'd never stop trying.

ten. Sephy

    'I'm off out,' said Meggie, popping her head round the door. 'Don't bother leaving dinner for me.'
    'Where're you going?'
    'I'm having dinner with a friend,' said Meggie tersely.
    I know I shouldn't've been surprised but I was. I could count on the mittened fingers of our garden gnome the number of times Meggie went out for a meal. She was definitely not a 'lady who did lunch'. Or dinner come to that. Meggie looked around with a frown.
    'Where's Callie Rose?'
    'At Tobey's house.'
    'So late?'
    'It's not late, Meggie. I'm going to give her another fifteen minutes then go and get her.'
    'Will you . . . will you be all right without me?' asked Meggie, her eyes anywhere and everywhere but on me.
    Why don't you just ask me the question you really want to ask?
    How long were Meggie and I