The long and prestigious history of the International Investment Bank of Europe stretched back nearly three hundred years, although its hidden roots could be traced back to Saxon times. Its modern structure surfaced in 1715 to lend money to the bankrupt British government to finance its fight against the Jacobites in Scotland and the government has been indebted to the bank ever since.

Listed as the eighth richest bank in the world, its true wealth wasn't known outside its own, highly secretive, boardroom. It was, in fact, the richest bank the world had ever seen. It concealed assets all across the planet, including vast fortunes salted away in Chinese banks, which it secretly owned. Its massive wealth was impossible to trace or count.

IIBE had first blipped onto Michael's radar when Noviru installed its anti-virus software across its global network. It was the biggest deal the company had ever won and the job was expected to take months to complete.

Even though he was one of their newest workers, Michael was given the lead role in delivering this highly prestigious contract. The company wanted to exploit their rising star's skills to the utmost. After some serious negotiation, an office was provided in the IIBE headquarters building and for nearly four months Michael spent virtually every waking hour working on the implementation. This was an exceptional turn of events because IIBE was so precious about its security, it had never before allowed outsiders into the heart of its operation.

Michael poured his heart and soul into making the project a stunning success; he'd have sweated blood if sweating blood had been a possibility. This was his chance to impress his bosses and to further one of his secret ambitions. He'd the opportunity to kill two large birds with one stone - two big black hawks down.

Over the next few months he observed how IIBE operated... and he didn't like what he saw. These people didn't break the regulations, these people made the regulations and they made them so they were the sole beneficiaries. It is called the Golden Rule - those with the gold make the rules. And these people definitely had the gold.

Internet research dredged up more dirt on this shady organisation; everything, from their financial dealings through to the profiles of the company directors, was tainted. In the deepest recesses of the Dark Web, where only the real Internet experts know to look, he found murky material about an even shadier side to IIBE. Perturbing conspiracy theories emerged, for example, 'The One World Government' notion. It claims that some of the planet's richest people use the UN, WTO and the World Bank to gain control of the world's money supply, therefore giving them control over everyone who's in debt; that's pretty much every government, every company, everybody.

Deep down, he didn't fully subscribe to any of these fanciful theories, however surely it was no coincidence that IIBE's name nearly always popped up after a bit of digging and hacking? No smoke without fire, so there was probably some truth in among the dross. He logged the information in the back of his mind, just in case.

Rumours also abounded about IIBE's highly secretive and ruthless internal security department and the fact that some of the rumour-mongers had mysteriously disappeared only added to the speculation.

Anonymous inside sources claimed the bank's security methods were modelled on the brutal and secretive methods of the Russian KGB or the old East German Stasi... or both. That sounded a bit ironic, a communist inspired defence for the ultimate capitalist beast. Anyway, he noted that fact as well but he reckoned he was too clever to be derailed by old, cold war tactics.