Enemies of Team Veritas

Oh well done, brave Secret Breaker for venturing onto the ‘Enemies of Team Veritas’ part of the site.

I’m afraid the information you’ll encounter here does not make pleasant reading! But, as Brodie, Hunter and Tusia soon realise, it’s important that members of Team Veritas are aware of their enemy.

I won’t give too much away in this section of the site….just enough to let you know how I developed some of the ideas about the enemy in the book. Much of what you need to know won’t become clear until the end of the series and it would be a shame to spoil things for you!

But a little insight should help prepare you for the adventure.

The enemy don’t want anyone in Team Veritas to break the secrets of MS 408. ‘Unlocking the truth’ is something they actively want to stop! When I was building the idea of an enemy who would try and stop the work of my heroes, I read lots of history books about people who prevented others knowing the truth. Some had prevented people reading. Some had prevented people sharing stories. Some had taken lives! History is full of examples of powerful people who want to maintain their power. Often they do this by controlling the information that people can know and sometimes they will stop at nothing to ensure this happens.

“History is full of examples of powerful people who want to maintain their power. ”

Level Five

Our enemy is based in Level Five of the Black Chamber. They were perhaps involved in good secret breaking once but, for one reason or another, now only want to make the truth difficult to see. I chose ‘Level Five’ deliberately. Five is half of ten…and if my heroes are based at Station X (and X means ten in Roman Numerals) then Level Five of the Black Chamber is the place for my enemies. Level Five is like Team Veritas…a secret within a secret… for many of the workers at the Black Chamber have no idea that Level Five is trying to prevent the truth being known.

“Level Five is trying to prevent the truth being known”

‘Our job on Level Five is to clarify tangible, believable truths, not try and catch or bottle shadows.’…

…He sniffed as if the folder he held was reeking an unbearable smell. ‘They’re all listed here, you know. Newbold and Levitov; that meddling Fabyan woman; even Ingham, Friedman and Bray. Their crazy notions about MS 408 stored for posterity. But that’s where they should remain. Locked away, forgotten, and discredited for the lies they are.’

(Extract from Secret Breakers Book One ‘The Power of Three.’) Show the full extract

The idea of banning MS 408 by placing a ‘D notice’ on it was inspired by something from real life. Documents can be kept away from public view and research into them banned if those in power want that. But those in Level Five want to do much more than stop people looking at an unread book!

I make one direct reference to a specific part of Level Five during ‘The Power of Three.’ I use the term ‘The Supressors.’ Look out for that phrase as the books develop. They are part of a major network which will do anything to stamp out the search for truth. Checking out the ‘Who’s Who’ section of this site as the series develops will also help you to see how much of the work of the enemy is based on truth. And finally, you should take a peek at the ‘World of Secret Breakers’ page and have a quick read about the ‘History of Black Chambers’. The details about the Ministry of Information should make very interesting reading!

“The details about the Ministry of Information should make very interesting reading!”

The Members

Many of those who work against Team Veritas are silent and unseen at the beginning of the adventure but there are two characters who we meet early on who you should know a little bit more about.

The Director

The office was oval in shape. The wooden floor was spread with a deep carpet…

…on the centre of which was embroidered an elaborate crest. In front of three long picture-windows were two flags. One was the Union flag and the other the flag of the Chamber. In front of these was an ornately carved wooden desk and behind the desk, in a high-backed leather chair, sat the Director. He looked up as Kerrith approached.
He was not a large man. In many ways the grandeur of his office overwhelmed him. His shoulders were hunched and his shirt loose around the collar as if it’d been chosen for someone bigger. But his eyes revealed a resolve that wouldn’t weaken.

(Extract from Secret Breakers Book One ‘The Power of Three.’) Show the full extract

Based in his office, the Director manages things from afar. It doesn’t mean he isn’t watching, though. Neither does it mean we shouldn’t be scared of what he can do. The Director is a powerful man. So powerful, that for much of the series we never know his name. The fact that he is the Director of Level Five and in charge of controlling who is allowed to search for the truth, is enough to know for now!

Interesting Truth:

The Director wears a pair of silver cufflinks. They are precious to him. They are engraved with a very important stamp.

Kerrith Vernan

It was perhaps putting it a little too strongly to suggest that Ms Kerrith Vernan hated Mr Smithies.…

…But it really wasn’t so very far from the truth. Smithies, in her opinion, stood for everything that was wrong with the state of the Black Chamber. He was old-fashioned, stuck in his ways and a terribly bad dresser.
Kerrith Vernan prided herself on three things. The first was her fast, and some would say exceptional, acceleration through the ranks amongst the staff at the Black Chamber. The second was her acceptance and love of the new order, the improved way of doing things, the future. And the third was her very carefully managed appearance. You didn’t get to be as goodlooking or as well presented as she was today without expending a lot of energy at the gym, or spending a lot of money on your stylist, two words she knew without doubt didn’t even exist in Smithies’ vocabulary.
Smithies was the thorn in Kerrith’s side.

(Extract from Secret Breakers Book One ‘The Power of Three.’) Show the full extract

Kerrith Vernan is ambitious. She’s tried hard to get to where she is now and the thought of being a worker on Level Five is beyond exciting for her. She had no time for Smithies when they worked next to each other. She has no time for anyone. The idea of having friends at this stage in her life makes no sense to her. She simply wants to achieve! And she will, it seems, do absolutely anything to make sure that happens.

Interesting Truth

Kerrith has not always lived in England. She travelled overseas to study at University. That was a long time ago now!