Dr. Daniel Clarke (16 April 1921 - 9 February 1968) was a British scientist and chemical engineer who was a staff member on Project Nova until he was targeted by project head and Soviet Army Major General Nikita Dragovich for knowing too much. Clarke fled to Kowloon, Hong Kong, where he was found and interrogated by CIA SAD agents Jason Hudson and Grigori Weaver. During this, Spetsnaz GRU sent by Dragovich attacked, forcing the CIA to escort him out alive. Unfortunately, Clarke was shot in the head while telling Hudson about the sleeper agent numbers, forcing Hudson to resort to other means to find out what the numbers meant.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Daniel Clarke was born on 16 April 1921, in Oxford, England. At a young age, he was diagnosed with various mental illnesses, though was able to become a highly respected chemical engineer in the 1940s, working on various projects. He became a communist during this time, joining the Communist Party of Great Britain.
As the Cold War escalated, Clarke found himself ostracized from scientific societies due to the anti-communist policies rising in the United Kingdom. Though he wished to work on cures for livestock and worker diseases, such as anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease, Clarke was unable to gain any support due to his political views.
Working for Dragovich[]
In 1964, Clarke travelled past the Iron Curtain and into the Soviet Union for work, eventually being hired by Soviet Army Major General Nikita Dragovich to work on Project Nova under Dr. Friedrich Steiner at Mount Yamantau. Using his expertise in biology and chemistry, he helped to stabilize volatile compounds within Nova 6 for effective use; to help memorize certain formulas, he tattooed them on his arms, torso, and face. Clarke also learned about Dragovich's numbers program and his plan to attack the United States.
On the run[]
On 1 August 1966, Clarke caught the Spetsnaz GRU guards tossing the body of fellow scientist Dr. Maximilian Church into an incinerator, though the guards did not see him. As a result, he realized that Dragovich and Steiner would kill Clarke and the remaining freelancers to ensure the secrecy of Nova 6. He and Dr. Henry Lazarus planned to escape through the Ural Valley, with Clarke organizing a flight out of the USSR.
During the escape, Lazarus was killed and Clarke managed to escape to his brother's house in Johannesburg, South Africa. Spetsnaz operatives managed to track Clarke down, killing his brother and forcing Clarke on the run to a safehouse in the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. There, he used what funds he had to purchase copious amounts of illegal weapons for caches during any escape and chemicals for his personal research into Nova 6, having become obsessed with the weapon. Clarke created a more refined version of Nova 6, storing them in containers at his safehouse.
Death[]
On 9 February 1968, CIA SAD agents Jason Hudson and Grigori Weaver used a dossier acquired by Alex Mason from a KGB defector in Hue, South Vietnam to discover Clarke. They tracked him down to his Kowloon safehouse, beating him and shattering glass inside his mouth in order to acquire additional information on Project Nova in exchange for protection. Spetsnaz GRU who had tracked Hudson and Weaver then attacked; during the brief gunfight, the Nova 6 gas containers ruptured and killed the remaining Spetsnaz operatives, though Clarke and the CIA agents were able to escape from the room.
Hudson and Weaver escorted Clarke across the rooftops, stopping at several different caches to replenish weaponry. While extracting Clarke, Hudson learned about Steiner's base at Mount Yamantau and "numbers". However, after jumping across to a slippery roof shingle, Clarke began to slip. Hudson grabbed him, asking Clarke about the numbers; unfortunately, before Clarke could answer, a Spetsnaz sniper shot Clarke in the head. Hudson was forced to drop him and make their way to extraction.