Dmitriy Popov
Dmitriy Arkadyevich Popov is a character that appears in the novel, Rainbow Six. A former KGB agent, Popov was hired to be a security consultant for the Horizon Corporation. He was personally tasked by John Brightling to orchestrate several terrorist attacks across Europe.
Biography
Background
Popov is the son of a tank commander who served in the Red Army and took part in the Battle of Stalingrad and Kursuk campaign during World War II. Popov would later follow his father's footsteps and commission into the Red Army. He later joined the KGB as a member of the CPSU and held the rank of Colonel. His open-book and forthright personality ultimately led to the termination of his promotion to Major General. As a field intelligence officer, Popov conducted espionage in several countries and acquired specialized skills including negotiation tactics. While he assisted several party members under the direction of his government, another aspect of his job was to deliver special messages. During the final years of the Cold War, Popov began to feel tired of his modest lifestyle. He contemplated defection but did not want the ordinary life that would follow.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Popov began scouting around for opportunities to enter the world of capitalism. In a chance meeting, Popov met John Brightling at a café in Paris. Brightling deduced Popov's former occupation after questioning him about business and Russia. Intrigued, Brightling flew Popov to America to serve as a security consultant for the Horizon Corporation. At some point, Brightling asked Popov if he could contact his former party members to offer them "work". Popov stated that he could should there be a reason for it. Afterwards, Brightling granted Popov a $100K salary as a special consultant.
Ten months later in 1999, Brightling doubled his salary and tasked Popov to orchestrate several terrorist attacks across the globe. Brightling neglected to inform Popov that the purpose of these attacks would be to raise terrorism awareness and help Bill Henriksen's security firm, Global Security, land a contract during the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Additionally, Brightling and Henriksen planned to release the Shiva Virus at the Olympics in order to wipe out the majority of the human population. Nevertheless, Popov accepted the jobs.
Orchestrating Attacks
The first terrorist incident Popov orchestrated was a hostage situation at a commercial bank in Bern, Switzerland. Popov paid Ernst Model and his crew $600K in D-marks to take hostages at the bank under the guise of a botched bank robbery. Popov watched the scene unfold from a nearby crowd of onlookers. As Rainbow Team 2 arrived onsite as disguised Swiss Police, Popov watched the raid unfold from a nearby crowd of onlookers. Unsurprised by Model's failure to escape, Popev made his way to Model's hideout to recover his money. Upon reaching it, he found a young man named Fabian, presumed to be Model's lover, and executed him.
Popov later returned to America and reported back to Brightling. He lied to Brightling about recovering the money though his employer did not mind, stating that it was only a "trivial sum". Brightling then tasked Popov to orchestrate another terrorist incident. To do this, Popov hired Hans Fürchtner and Petra Dortmund to take Austrian financier Erwin Ostermann and his staff hostage at Ostermann's home outside of Vienna, Austria in order to obtain "special access codes". Popov was fully aware that the codes did not exist. He monitored the situation as Rainbow dispatched Fürchtner and Dortmund and rescued the hostages.
Popov returned to New York City and reported back to Brightling. He questioned Brightling on what the true purpose was for orchestrating these attack, only to be told that he did not need to be told at this time. Undeterred, Popov departed Brighting's office and went to a nearby library to dig up information on his employer. He was unable to find anything substantial on Brightling's personal life except that he had been married to Carol Brightling. He continued to research Brightling on the internet still could not find anything that tied Brightling to terrorism.
Learning of Rainbow
Following the hostage situation at World Park, Popov deduced the existence of a new international counter-terrorism unit. By comparing footage from World Park to that of the Bern and Vienna terrorist incidents, Popov noticed that each showed a team member with the same build, body language, and clothing smoking a pipe. Popov informed Brightling of this new international team and argued that he would need to know more about Brightling's plans in order to successfully counteract the team. Brightling agreed and told Popov that he would consider his request.
Brightling and Henriksen later informed Popov that the new counter-terrorism unit was known as Rainbow. Additionally, they had learned that it was based in Hereford, England and was led by John Clark. In order to discourage Rainbow from being deployed to the Sydney Summer Games, Brightling tasked Popov with traveling to Hereford to gather more information on Rainbow and orchestrate another attack. After arriving in England, Popov traveled to a local pub outside of Hereford Base and met a local plumber named Edward Miles who worked on the base. Through gossip from Miles, Popov learned that Clark's wife, Sandra O'Toole, was a nurse at the local hospital. Wishing to learn more about Clark, Popov met with the Third Secretary of the Russian Embassy in London, Ivan Kirilenko. Knowing of Kirilenko's status as a rezident, Popov asked Kirilenko to dig up any information Russia had on Clark. In exchange, Popov offered to give Kirilenko all the available information he had on Rainbow. Kirilenko agreed and both men exchanged contact information before departing. Unbeknownst to the pair, members of the Security Service were conducting surveillance on Kirilenko, taking several photos of their meeting. A few days later, both men walked past one another in a crowded walkway and covertly exchanged documents. From these documents, Popov learned more of Clark's background as well as that of Domingo Chavez. Popov was impressed by both men's background and sought to scout out Hereford Base.
Popov returned to the local pub outside of the base and met with Edward Miles again. Popov pretended to be a tools salesman and offered travel with Miles back to base to show him his tools. Miles accepted and Popov was able to get on base due to the lax security. Popov was taken to the base's civil engineer building and then accepted Miles' offer to accompany him to a facility to fix a watercooler. To his surprise, the facility turned out to be Rainbow Headquarters itself. While fixing a pipe to the water cooler, Popov and Miles were briefly greeted by John Clark himself. Popov kept his cool and maintained his cover. He was then given a tour of the base by Miles who showed him Clark and Chavez's homes. Popov also caught a glimpse of Clark's wife Sandra O'Toole who was leaving for work in her nurse uniform. Popov was then told by Miles that Clark's daughter Patricia Clark was also a nurse at the same hospital as her mom. Popov later confirmed this by calling Patricia directly and ended the call after pretending to have called the wrong number. With more than enough information, Popov prepared to leave for New York City. He proceeded to go over all of the information he had collected while waiting in his hotel room. Popov marked the location of Clark's home on a map he had stolen from Miles so that he could later deduce the route Sandra took to work as well as her hours.
Attack on the Hospital
Popov returned to New York City and reported to Brightling. Under the direction of Brightling and Henrickson, Popov traveled to Ireland and met an old contact, Sean Grady, who knew him as "Iosef Serov". Popov told Grady, who was the leader of a cell of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, about Rainbow and their exploits and proposed that PIRA take Clark's wife and daughter hostage from the community hospital they worked at in order to lure Rainbow out to be disposed of. Grady agreed to the operation in exchange for six million dollars and a large quantity of cocaine to further fund PIRA operations. Two weeks later, Popov took a Horizon Corporation plane back to Ireland and delivered the medical quality cocaine to Grady as well as the numbers to access the money in a Swiss bank account. The next day, Popov parked his car up the hill from the hospital and watched as PIRA started their attack.
While PIRA was able to kill two Rainbow operatives and seriously injure four others, all members were either captured or killed, including Grady who was taken to the base hospital for surgery and later interrogation. As he saw the attack turn in Rainbow's favor, Popov called the Swiss bank and transferred the remaining funds into his own account. He then quickly left the area and took a flight back to New York City. After departing his plane, he dropped his passports and credit cards into a garbage can at the dumpster to cover himself in the event that Grady divulged his "Iosef Serov" identity. After leaving, however, Popov's passports were found by a sanitation worker and turned into the Passport Control Office at New York City's British consulate. This led Bill Tawney and the FBI to learn of his whereabout and launch a manhunt to find him. Through his connections, Henrickson also learned of Popov's mistake and told him while he was in meeting with Brightling. Brightling and Henrickson did not want to risk Popov getting arrested and sent him on a flight to the Project's secret research facility in Kansas, OLYMPUS, though they did not divulge the purpose of it.
Hiding at OLYMPUS
Popov was one of the first arrivals at the research facility. He first met and befriended John Killgore who taught him how to ride a horse. Over the next several days, Popov and Killgore regularly met up for breakfast each morning before riding their horses around the compound. Kirk Maclean and Foster Hunnicutt also joined them on this routine. Popov genuinely enjoyed his time at the compound with all three men and revealed his former occupation and role in the recent terrorists attacks to them. Still unaware as to why he had been paid to orchestrate these attacks, Popov tried multiple times to ask each of his new friends what the purpose of the Project was. While they did reveal small details that concerned him, they did not tell him outright. One morning, Foster told Popov of his past job as a geologist and strongly hinted to killing the game warden in Montana. This horrified Popov who began to question what kind of people Horizon was recruiting into "The Project".
The next day, Popov was asked by Foster about his past as a KGB officer and told him that he did not have an issue with his past actions. While on the way to the stables, Foster showed off his Colt Revolver to Popov and explained that he never rode anywhere without it. A short time later, Popov told Foster that he had only been riding a horse for a little over a week and that he desired to become a better rider. The two then made plans to ride again later that night.
After darkness fell, both men began riding their horses around the compound. Popov spoke to Foster about horse breeds and learned that he had found a large amount of gold on his property in Montanta but did not mine it due to the damage it would do to the environment. Their conversation eventually led Foster to reveal the true purpose of The Project to Popov. Foster told him about Shiva, its effects, and how it would be distributed through the mist cooling system on the last day of the Olympics. He also praised Popov by explaining how his actions helped Bill Henriksen secure the security contract for the Olympics and made their plan a reality. He then told Popov of a second Project facility in Brazil, Project Alternate. At this revelation, Popov seemed to agree with the Project's reasoning and asked Foster if he could hold his revolver. Popov first shot at a nearby ground stake to test his marksmanship and then surprised Foster and by turning the weapon and shooting him in the chest, killing him. Popov then unsaddled both of their horses and escaped the compound to a nearby bus stop to warn the outside world.
Meeting with Clark
Popov was later picked up by a man and taken to the airport. After disposing of Foster's revolver in the garbage, Popov took a flight to Kansas City and then New York City. Knowing that no policeman would believe him, Popov called John Clark directly from his hotel room. Popov identified himself as "Iosef Serov" and told Clark to take a flight to New York City and meet him at the entrance to the Central Park Zoo at exactly 11 o'clock that day. Surrounded by undercover FBI agents, Clark met with Popov hours later at the entrance to the zoo as agreed. Clark surprised Popov by revealing that his knew his real name and history and that he had obtained the information directly from the chairman of the SVR, Sergey Golovko. Popov first apologized for the events that occurred at the hospital in England and admitted to orchestrating the Bern and Vienna terrorist attacks. Popov then told Clark that he learned the true purpose of these attacks and that the objective is to wipe out all of humanity. To convince him that he was not joking, Popov told Clark that he killed Foster Hunnicutt after learning the truth and how made his way back to New York City to talk to him. Popov then proposed that Clark take him to the nearest safehouse to give them the information in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Clark agreed and had Popov follow him back to his car along with FBI agents Frank Chatham and Tom Sullivan.
Foiling The Project
At the FBI safehouse, Popov revealed everything he had learned from Foster as well as other details he had pieced together from his time working for Brightling. This led Clark to order Domingo Chavez and his team, who were at the Olympics at the request of the SASR, to monitor the stadium's mist distribution system. Not long after, Wilson Gearing entered the distribution room and attempted to distribute the Shiva virus until he was stopped by Chavez and arrested by Tim Noonan. With Popov's information proven to be accurate, FBI agents arrived at the OLYMPUS facility but found it deserted. Popov surmised that they had fled to Project Alternate in Brazil and told Clark everything he knew about it. This led Clark to contact William Byron and obtain assistance with tracking Brightling's planes and set up a mission for Rainbow to raid the site. Through Rainbow's efforts, Project Alternate was destroyed and the remaining ecoterrorists, including Brightling and Henrickosn, were left for dead in the rainforest.
Aftermath
With the crisis averted, Popov had managed to avoid any charges related to the terrorist plot thanks to his deal with Clark. Six months later, he was living as an entrepreneur in the United States. He purchased the Montana ranch from Foster Hunnicutt's estate for half a million dollars and then "accidently discovered" the gold he had been be told about by Foster earlier. Environmentalists attempted to block the mining but their objections were thrown out in court. Popov's discovery went on to make national headlines, much to John Clark's chagrin.
Trivia
- Popov is highly fluent in English, French, and Czech
- His name is taken from Dmitry Ivanovich Popov, the leader of the 1918 Left SR uprising.