Robert Aldrich (1937 - 7 March 1981) was an American defector and leader of one of the largest spy networks in North America during the Cold War. Formerly a CIA agent, he defected to the Soviet Union after being passed up for promotion one too many times, Perseus being designated as his handler due to Aldrich's value. When Perseus split from the Soviets due to their ideological differences, Aldrich followed him as well.
Aldrich arrogantly believed he was perfectly safe in the country he betrayed, only for Perseus' former right-hand man Bell to expose Aldrich and his spy network, making it safe for Alex Mason and Frank Woods to assassinate Aldrich themselves.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Robert Aldrich was born in 1937 to German immigrants that escaped to America during the Nazi regime. Aldrich joined the CIA in the 1960s, rising to the rank of Special Officer and overseeing several operations in the Eastern Bloc. However, he was passed up for promotion many times due to his lack of results and his superiors' distaste of Aldrich and his tactics.
As a result, when an embedded KGB agent within the CIA attempted to recruit Aldrich in the 1970s, he agreed and was soon put in charge of one of the largest sleeper cell networks in North America.
When Perseus split from the Soviets, Aldrich left with him, providing Perseus with an extremely valuable asset. He was exposed as a double agent, though was unable to be captured by the CIA due to Perseus pulling strings and giving him protection.
Death[]
However, on 13 January 1981, Perseus' right-hand man was captured and brainwashed by CIA agent Russell Adler using MKUltra, with Perseus' protégé assuming the name of Bell. He used his cryptography skills and knowledge of Perseus' network to discover Robert Aldrich and his entire network. The assassination of Aldrich in Operation Chaos was approved, with the CIA sending the two best men in the Special Activities Division to eliminate him: Alex Mason and Frank Woods.
Arrogantly, Aldrich believed he was untouchable and resided in the southwestern United States with a fully armed undercover Spetsnaz escort numbering nearly sixty. On 7 March, Mason and Woods, alongside fire support from fellow Black Ops operatives, halted Aldrich's escort at a Colorado pit stop as he headed towards Mexico. Instead of getting into a vehicle to flee, Aldrich fled into the pit stop towards a motel room, believing that his large escort of sixty special forces operatives would be able to combat the CIA.
His escorts were killed, with Mason and Woods breaching his hotel room and eliminating Aldrich before taking a photo of his corpse as confirmation.