Following the events of the Second Korean War, the Mercenary and their technical support advisor Fiona Taylor leave Executive Operations to work independently. Three years later, the Mercenary is referred to a contract in Venezuela by Blanco: a Liberian who the Mercenary had worked with in Dakar. Blanco introduces them to Ramon Solano - a billionaire software entrepreneur with family ties to drug trafficking. Using his connections, Solano had convinced General Carlos Carmona and large portions of the Venezuelan Army to overthrow the government. However, General Carmona had since been captured by loyalist army units - leading Solano to hire the Mercenary to rescue him.
Upon rescuing Carmona and returning him to Solano, however, the Mercenary is betrayed and Solano attempts to execute them, shooting them in the butt as they flee his mansion. Humiliated and penniless, the Mercenary watches as Solano overthrows the Venezuelan government in a coup d'état, then decides to take revenge and set up a PMC of their own.