Elizabeth Mcglinn Archives

Octavia Vermont’s house

The Vermont family live in a beautiful and large house surrounded by acres of its own immaculately kept grounds and gardens.

The bees are always buzzing and the flowers are always smelling beautiful here. It is a veritable Garden of Eden.

There is also o More than gardening ften the sound of cannons and explosions because the large gardens are where Commander Vermont carries out his (almost daily) military maneuvers with the soldiers who obey his every command — even if the orders seem bizarre.

Octavia Vermont likes to sit in the garden and read or play music and amid the minefields and mortar ranges can sometimes be heard Octavia’s virtuoso cello or piano music.

OCTAVIA’S GUIDE TO THE SECRET SERVICE 2

OCTAVIA’S GUIDE TO THE SECRET SERVICE

Undercover Operations cont…

Other famous undercover operations include

The Fluffy Pink G-String Case
The Green Banana Case
The Missing Cookies Case
The Credit Card Fraud Case
The Fake Smile Case
The Brass Monkey Case

All these cases made National News Headlines and Sunset Cove has become even more famous over the last few years just because of the Secret Service.

Criminal Justice

The Secret Service in Sunset Cove have a unique way of dealing with criminals of the underworld. Most petty criminals are paraded through town in a cage labelled “I’m a thief” or “I am the dumbest guy in town”. This is enough to keep most criminals from striking again.

One of their most famous methods of getting information out of people is using their Poly Wants a Grapher test. A macaw sits in the downtown police station and is used by the police as well as the secret service. Mr Macaw asks the suspect the questions and if the suspect is lying then the bird has a nibble on their fingers. Now these birds have very powerful beaks and the more you lie the more this bird likes to bite down hard on your fingers. It doesn’t take long for the criminal to tell all…

My role

As Octavia Vermont (only one of my aliases) I attend school in Sunset Cove and behave like a normal teenager. I am an accomplished martial arts expert, a linguist, a doctor, a lawyer, basically a genius. There is no mission I can’t handle. I know how to disarm and survive the biggest bombs, catch bullets in mid air, and fly runaway aircraft. I am the highest paid member of the Secret Service team due to my 16 years in service. I joined the service when I was 1 and haven’t looked back since. My parents have no idea of my exceptional abilities and I like to keep it that way. The less people know the better in my opinion. We have to be undercover our whole lives – living the simple small town life when really we’re on dangerous missions 24 hours a day.

Joining the Secret Service

You can’t just join the Secret Service – you must be found by them. They approach you. Even as young as one years old you could be with one of the top agencies in the world…

OCTAVIA’S GUIDE TO THE SECRET SERVICE 1

OCTAVIA’S GUIDE TO THE SECRET SERVICE

Hello, my name is Octavia Vermont and I’m a Secret Service Agent (Don’t tell anyone). Here’s my Secret Service Guide to being a Secret Service Agent.

Protection

Everyone needs protection because there are some pretty nasty people in the world. The Sunset Cove Secret Service are situated in Sunset Cove because it’s a place of high activity. People are flocking to Sunset Cove all year round just to catch the sunshine. All sorts of dodgy people pass through and the Secret Service have to protect the young citizens of Sunset Cove.

The Secret Service also protect the Mayor of Sunset Cove. She’s a very high profile woman and her engagements around the city are kept very secret.

Our Mission Statement

“To investigate and protect every living being in the Sunset Cove area from aliens, sea life, neanderthals, critters, ugly people etc. If any term, provision, covenant, or condition of this agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, or unenforceable, the rest of the agreement shall become null and void and we shall be in no way affected, impaired or invalidated and the citizens could die”.

Undercover Operations

Many undercover operations are simultaneously underway at any one time. All operations are taken seriously.

All undercover operations start with Who, What, Where and When. These officers are highly trained and their identities are kept secret. They decide what the threat is, who the threat is from, where the threat might appear and when it might happen. Who has been known in Sunset Cove for years and last year was award the Purple Square for services to the city.

The latest threat that came by Sunset Cove was a brass band. They snuck into town and started parading down the street making a racket! The Secret Service were on to them in a flash and they all disappeared quietly and unsuspiciously as brass bands should do. Protecting the city from tarnishing it’s reputation is number one of the Secret Service’s priorities. Sunset Cove is known for it’s very good looking people, it’s winning smile and it’s all year round sun.

OCTAVIA’S GUIDE TO SPY NOVELS 2

OCTAVIA’S GUIDE TO SPY NOVELS

This is what he told me from his vast and amazing knowledge of spies…

Spies are normal people who are not normal. They know how to think differently and they know how to speak several languages. They are usually tall and handsome and wear tuxedoes but sometimes they can be tall and handsome and wear ski suits. They like to run a lot and they are good at driving fast cars. They are good at finding out things about people and they can keep a secret if they want to.

Mr Bond didn’t get to tell me anything about actual spy novels because he was jumped on and dragged away at that stage by several men in black balaclavas. That I’m afraid, is one of the downsides of being a spy – you can rarely get to finish a conversation.

Spy novels are fantastic and very helpful. I learned to speak Spy Talk from them and also how to drink a martini. I recommend that you start reading soon and maybe you too can begin to talk the language of spies.

And on that note, I will leave you with this – The quick brown mole jumped in the hole.

TOP TEN SPY NOVELS TIPS

1. All good spy books must have a cover that tells you something. A title is really helpful or you won’t know what it is you’re reading. I find ones that have a picture on are really good as well.

2. The name of the spy is really important. Anything with James or Bond in it is usually a good sign.

3. Read the book from front to back and you will enjoy the story.

4. Use a magnifying glass to read the story and you will enjoy the story even more.

5. Wear a black suit and a microphone headset and you will enjoy the story even more.

6. Reading in the dark is a good thing because it makes you feel like a spy, particularly if you are wearing night vision goggles at the time.

7. Teach yourself to read between the lines and you might just discover a real spy secret – The Eagle Has Put The Easter Egg In the Nest is not just a phrase that spies use, it actually means something.

8. Turn the page so that you can get to the next one.

9. When you have finished the book, it’s the end.

10. If you are reading a book where they tell you to mix one cup of sugar with a cup of flour then you are probably not reading a spy book – unless it’s a very clever one…

OCTAVIA’S GUIDE TO SPY NOVELS Part 1

OCTAVIA’S GUIDE TO SPY NOVELS

“I grew up in a military household and believe I am the product of DNA testing at a secret base in the mountains behind Sunset Cove. I am not exactly the Bionic Woman – but I am pretty close…”

I am a genius and everyone knows it. I was born believing in myself and I could understand everything that people said – apart from that silly baby talk that people feel they have to do. Although I knew how to speak back I had an instinct to keep this talent to myself and practised my language skills when I was alone in my crib.

When I was old enough to walk I would creep out of the nursery and raid my father’s bookshelves. I would sit up for hours reading and taking in all the facts, figures and statistics that were encrypted in the words and lines of his novels.

My mother was always telling my father off for leaving his books in my room. He was baffled and thought maybe he had been sleepwalking. But there was no other explanation as to how a 6 month old baby could get out of her crib, walk downstairs and bring an adult armful of books back with her … was there?!

When I was 5 I became slightly bored of learning languages and military codes and came across a spy novel that my mother had bought for my Grandma. I pounced on it as the cover looked so intriguing. The guy on the cover looked like the man that had been following my father for as long as I could remember.

Mom had to let me have the book for fear that I would throw a huge tantrum and give her a headache and I gleefully carried it away to my room and read it all in one go, not even stopping to watch New News or Politics Today Tonight Tomorrow.

After that first novel I was unstoppable and couldn’t get my hands on enough of these books. It all made sense to me and it felt as if I was reading about myself.

The books taught me some new skills but mostly they took me away from my thoughts and to a place in my head that I liked to be. I think I was designed to be a spy, that it was a calling for me, my destiny. And of course, I am one now. And I write my own books about my experiences.

In my search for the best of the best of spy novels I went to our local second hand store for spies and talked to Bond, Michael Bond. At the age of 107, Michael is the ultimate spymaster and knows everything there is to know about spies.