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    Licence to Fish
    Licence to Fish
    Licence to Fish
    Ebook73 pages50 minutes

    Licence to Fish

    By Justin Richards

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    About this ebook

    A hilarious new series for younger readers, following the misadventures of an ordinary boy at an extraordinary school for young spies…

    SPUD has set up a secret base under the school pond and is using radio-controlled duck-cameras to gather information. But the chief SPUD agent has made the mistake of having his weekly edition of SPUD's Nasty Newsletter redirected to his new base - by Alfie's dad, the local postman! It doesn't take long for the gang to work out what SPUD are up to.

    Can Alfie and his friends find a way of turning the SPUD infiltration to their advantage? Of course they can - and soon the school is teaching the pupils using even more bizarre methods than usual, all for SPUD's benefit. Will the evil organisation really believe in assassination by daffodil? Or that trained hamsters are used to infiltrate their bases? Of course they will…

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateOct 29, 2009
    ISBN9780007347360
    Licence to Fish
    Author

    Justin Richards

    Justin Richards has written for stage and screen as well as novels and graphic novels. He writes extensively for children and has also co-authored several action thrillers for young adults with the acknowledged master of the genre, Jack Higgins. The first two novels in his adult science fiction Never War series, The Suicide Exhibition and The Blood Red City, were published in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Justin acts as creative consultant to BBC Books' Doctor Who titles, and he has penned quite a few himself. Married with two children (both boys), Justin lives and works in Warwick, England, within sight of one of Britain's bestpreserved castles.

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    Book preview

    Licence to Fish - Justin Richards

    Introduction

    Welcome to Thunder Raker Manor

    An Introduction to the School

    by Mr. Trenchard, Head Teacher

    Thunder Raker Manor is an exclusive school for boys and girls from 8 to 18. Some of the children come daily, some are boarders. Some of them I remember, some of them I—er, what was I saying?

    Anyway, all our students are here because their parents or guardians are connected with the Security Services. Spies and agents are happy to send their children to Thunder Raker Manor secure in the knowledge that they will be safe from any possible threats.

    We teach a full curriculum at Thunder Raker, fully compliant with the National Thingummy. And alongside the English and Maths and History and Geography, our students learn skills that may just come in handy back home or in their future careers —if they have inherited their parents’ inclinations and aptitudes.

    As well as being an honorary CT (Classified Training) Academy, Thunder Raker is especially pleased with its latest SATS results. We take the Special Agent Training Standards very seriously indeed and have achieved excellent levels in Surveillance, Code Breaking and Sabotage.

    And if the Security Services need a bit of help from some youngsters for a special mission, or if the villainous agents of that dastardly organisation known only as the Secret Partners for Undertaking Destruction (SPUD) try to take over the school or kidnap one of the teachers—rest assured, every one of our students is ready and prepared.

    Mr. Trenchard has been the Head Teacher of Thunder Raker Manor since Mrs Muldoom’s unfortunate accident on the assault course all those years ago. He is superbly qualified and takes great pride in his work. When he can remember what it is. Very good—carry on. Um. Yes…

    Mr. Trenchard

    Colonel Hugh Dare-Swynne’s Class of the Week This week the Colonel foouses on Class 3d, which is taught by Miss Jones.

    Miss Jones

    Miss Jones says:

    3D is a lovely class and works hard. This year was especially exciting for everyone as we had a new student start—Alfie (surname classified). Alfie is already settling in very well, and even has his own cover story—some nonsense about his father actually being a postman. As if!

    Alfie

    Alfie fits in well with the other children. He is nine years old, and he’s a clever, practical boy with lots of common sense. He’s brave and loyal and fun. Though I have to say he doesn’t always quite understand some of the lessons or the way we do things here at Thunder Raker. But his common sense approach is a breath of fresh air and he sees the world—and our problems—in a much less cluttered and complicated way than the other children.

    Jack

    Next up is Jack. Jack’s dad is head of the Secret Service, though of course we don’t mention that. But it does explain why Jack’s a bit full of himself. He is always coming up with terrific ideas and plans, though usually they are rather impractical and just too involved ever to work.

    Harry

    Harry’s dad has infiltrated SPUD and sends him strange, coded text messages and letters written in invisible ink. Sometimes the children have to go and rescue or help him, which cuts into the school day. Harry isn’t the brightest of the bunch by a long way, but his questions often throw up problems with Jack’s ideas. He is brave and loyal and willing and likes doing PE—on the school assault course.

    Sam

    Sam’s mum works in Whitehall for Hush Hush, designing equipment for agents and spies. Sam uses a motorised wheelchair—which looks ordinary but has amazing gadgets built into it. Sam’s mum made him his wheelchair because the NHS one didn’t have a very good anti-missile protection system. And one of the wheels was wonky.

    Chloe

    Moving on to the girls, Chloe is the daughter of a renowned spy (and doesn’t she know it). If you thought Jack was a bit full of himself, he’s got nothing on Chloe. She just has to be the centre of attention, wearing the latest fashion—and spying—accessories. At home she’s got her telly wired up with a Playstation 3, a Wii, and the very latest omni-processing decryptortron. Unfortunately Alfie isn’t terribly impressed by

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