In 2025, US Special Forces operatives led by David Mason and his partner, Harper, arrive at "the Vault", a top-security location home to an elderly Frank Woods, whom they suspect possesses vital information on the whereabouts of Raul Menendez. Woods concedes that Menendez has recently visited him, and shows them a locket that the latter had left behind. Frank then narrates several covert missions undertaken during his military career which span their previous encounters. In 1986 Alex Mason had effectively retired from active duty to pursue an obscure existence in Alaska with his son, the seven-year-old David. Their shaky relationship is further strained when Mason is solicited by Jason Hudson, seeking to recruit him for an assignment in Cuando Cubango during the height of the Angolan civil and South African Border Wars. Woods had disappeared with his men while aiding Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebels against Angola's Marxist government; their actions have already been disavowed by the CIA and Hudson hopes to rescue any survivors. With UNITA assistance, Mason and Hudson recover Woods from the Kavango River, subsequently locating Menendez among a contingent of Cuban military advisers. However, a firefight breaks out, and their quarry escapes as the Americans are rescued by Savimbi in a Hind D. It is revealed that Menendez is responsible for holding Woods captive after murdering his team. In light of this information, Mason, Woods, and Hudson begin tracking Menendez, who has established himself as a primary arms dealer for bush conflicts in Southern Africa and Latin America. Later in the year, the CIA authorizes a strike against the unscrupulous Nicaraguan, now making a healthy profit running arms across Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Mason, Woods, and Hudson assist the Mujahideen in their battle against the Soviets, along with Chinese operative Tian Zhao. Woods and Mason find Lev Kravchenko, who had survived the grenade incident with Woods in Vietnam, causing Mason to see the numbers and hear the voice of Viktor Reznov again. Kravchenko is interrogated by the group and the player is given the option of executing Kravchenko by Reznov's orders inside Mason's head or resisting and finishing the interrogation. In the latter scenario, Woods executes Kravchenko after admitting that he associated with Menendez and that he has men inside the CIA. Regardless of how Kravchenko is killed, the Mujahideen are revealed to be allied with Menendez, and double-cross Mason, Woods, Hudson, and Zhao. The four are beaten, tied, and left for dead in the middle of the desert, unconscious until rescued by two unknown civilians, one of whom Mason believed to be Reznov. At this point, Menendez's motive for his seemingly senseless vendetta against the West become clear: his beloved sister, Josefina, was grievously injured in an act of arson committed by American businessmen for insurance money. The Menendez clan, which dominates a powerful drug cartel, was again rocked by loss when the CIA sanctioned the assassination of Raul's father. An embittered Menendez now considers the conflict to be personal, but his one-man struggle against the West is interrupted when Mason, Woods, Hudson, and the Panama Defense Force raid his headquarters in Nicaragua; an enraged Woods inadvertently kills Josefina with a grenade. Faking his demise with the assistance of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, Menendez lives to retaliate against those he holds personally responsible for his sister's death. During the 1989 invasion of Panama, he utilizes moles in the CIA to kidnap Hudson and David, using them as bait for a trap. He then uses Hudson to mislead Woods, manipulating him into shooting Mason instead of himself. In the ensuing chaos, Menendez kills Hudson and cripples Woods. Unsatisfied with his revenge, Menendez allows Woods and David to live, promising to return to complete his revenge when the time is right. 36 years later, Menendez re-emerges as the leader of Cordis Die, a massive populist movement with over a billion followers. He stages a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese Stock Exchange; in response, the Chinese government bans the export of rare earth elements which the entire infrastructure of the US Army runs and relies on, fomenting the start of the Second Cold War between the United States and NATO, against the Chinese-led Strategic Defense Coalition. Taking advantage of this stand-off, Menendez attempts to bring the two superpowers to a full-blown war by inciting conflicts between the two, secretly aiding SDC leader Chairman Tian Zhao. Using the intelligence provided by Woods, David, now a Navy SEAL code-named Section, leads JSOC units in the search for Menendez..