Steven Pinder is an agent with the BISS.
Ian Turner is a CEO of a computer software company.
According to the synopsis of the British Intelligence Special Service (BISS), the "organisation is believed to have been in existence, in one form or another for many years, albeit having several name changes along the way. It is also believed, was initially set up by Elizabeth I for her personal protection. The existence of BISS known only by a few was formally recognised in 1837 when, after the death of William IV, Lord Melbourne informed the young Victoria of its existence. In 1841 according to some notes made by Robert Peel, Queen Victoria advised him and the then Home secretary Graham, that they should be aware of the Royal Secret Service, which at that time was headed by Lord Palmerstone. Today this organisation is government funded, although its first allegiance is still to the Monarch".
We are further told that "the current Director of BISS is Sir Peter Thompson-Smythe, a former officer in the 'Household Cavalry'. Sir Peter's involvement with the other National Security Services is limited to a consultancy basis only. However, all matters deemed secret and of national interest are formally passed over Sir Peter's desk. It is thought by the higher echelons of MI5, MI6, Special Branch and SAS, that BISS, over the years, had put together its own very secret and elite force of agents. Although never remarked upon by Sir Peter, it has been noticed on many occasions, just how often BISS manages to come up with facts that could have only been obtained by someone on the inside of a terrorist or some other anti-British group. One such agent was Steven Pinder, code name, Spider".
Pinder, though English by nationality, has a Spanish mother from whom he inherited his good looks and Mediterranean complexion, allowing him to blend in anywhere near that area. His father had been at the time of his birth the Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and had spent the first eight years in the embassy in Riyadh, at which time he was sent to boarding school in England. He "could speak fluent Arabic and Spanish as well as English of course. Within one term at Winchester [Boys School] he was also pretty adept at French" and it was then that he was noticed by the BISS Director and watched from then on. Pinder "has a natural gift for languages; by the time he had got to Oxford he was fluent in Russian, German and Hindi".
After Pinder graduated from college he went through three years of intensive training with the Parachutists and then the SAS. He has been an agent with BISS for a few years already when we meet him, his cover day job being a Major in the Royal Marines as part of the SBS. He is single and lives, when not on base, in a very nice boat.
Ian Turner is a computer programming specialist. We meet him in the second adventure with Pinder and he will become a friend and colleague of sorts to Pinder. Turner is a man dedicated to his work ever since his live-in girl friend had left him for another man a decade before, taking his much loved daughter with her. He "set up his own software company 'IT Telecoms', specializing in telecommunications. The company expanded at a great rate and following the award of a government contract, the business took on the hardware package as well, offering full communication systems". As we are told, his former lover and her new boyfriend had been employees of GCHQ before heading to Canada and now Turner's company, after developing an especially useful software program, saw that piece of code "installed in the bowls of GCHQ Cheltenham donut", being an important part of the entire Secret Service network.