Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley (born 13 November 1984) is a British soldier serving as an operator in NATO Task Force 141, having previously served as an operator in the British Army's Special Air Service.
Riley was responsible for the deaths of Zaragoza Cartel leader Manuel Roba, brainwashed Delta Force operators and the killers of his family Kevin Sparks and Marcus Washington, and Brazilian arms dealer Alejandro Rojas. He was thought to be killed by General Herschel Shepherd on the Georgian-Russian border, though he survived after enduring severe burns, returning to England after World War III. Riley recovered for several months, returning to the SAS and participating in several operations.
Riley was recruited back into the reactivated Task Force 141, serving in Verdansk and in the Americas during the 2022 Al-Qatala missile crisis.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Simon Riley was born on 13 November 1984 in Manchester, England, UK, to an abusive father. His father would taunt the young Simon with dangerous animals, and his younger brother Tommy would wear a skull mask at night to scare Simon. One time, his father took him to a concert from the punk band Bone Lickers, where Simon saw his first dead body: a prostitute who overdosed on drugs. He eventually earned an apprenticeship as a butcher at a grocery store.
Simon soon signed up for the British Army after 9/11 at age of 18, qualifying for the Special Air Service and passing the grueling trials to enter. In January 2003, Simon came home to find his father having repeatedly cheated on his mother and Tommy becoming addicted to drugs. Simon temporarily retired until he could fix his families lives: he beat and threw his father out of the house in March 2004 for beating his mother, and he helped Tommy kick the drug habit and marry a woman named Beth in June 2006: the two would eventually have a son named Joseph.
Cartel[]
Betrayal and attempted brainwashing[]
On the night of 31 October 2010, Riley cross-loaded with Delta Force to hunt down Manuel Roba, the leader of the Zaragoza Cartel based in Coahuila, Mexico. He deployed with Lieutenant Kevin Sparks, Corporal James Cumberland, Sergeant Marcus Washington, Corporal Harris Sykes, and Major Duncan Vernon as part of the third team to go after Roba.
However, Vernon sabotaged the mission by informing Roba and tampering with Sykes' parachute, causing it to fail and Sykes to be killed by the fall. The plan was to infiltrate the Day of the Dead festival and get into Roba's estate where he would be assassinated. Riley witnessed Cumberland sneaking off to talk on a pay phone, shortly followed afterwards by Roba's men. The mission went forward, though Riley eventually found the heavily tortured Cumberland and was shortly captured by the traitorous Vernon.
Riley, Cumberland, and Washington undergo brutal torture over the next several weeks, breaking Riley's spirit. Roba began brainwashing the three of them, but Riley turned out to be extremely difficult to brainwash, As a result, he was thrown into a coffin containing the corpse of Vernon and buried alive. Riley took Vernon's jawbone and broke out of the coffin, escaping through to Texas, where a Texas Ranger found him. After that, it took him a week to return to Credenhill, Herefordshire by 18 December. When he got back to base, Riley was dehydrated, delirious, and had infected sores all across his body. Riley was placed on a four-month leave by Major Glenn Hoskins to recover from this state.
Nightmares[]
Riley became plagued by nightmares revolving around hurting women; unbeknownst to him, this was a residual effect from Roba's brainwashing. He spoke to his mother, who told him to visit his cancer-stricken father. Riley then saw his psychiatrist, Dr. Emma Halloway, where he told Halloway he saw his father as pure evil, even more so than Roba.
Hoping to resolve his nightmares, Riley visited the escaped and now-Captain Sparks and Lieutenant Washington at a Manchester bar on 24 December. Sparks and Washington were transferring to Afghanistan through RAF Bonington, though stayed briefly when they heard that Riley was okay. There, Sparks talked about his new position in Afghanistan and openly how he would let the door open for heroin and human trafficking. Riley confirmed that Sparks betrayed his country by serving Roba, having been brainwashed fully. He secretly alerted the authorities while Sparks and Washington attempted to rape a woman who just left the bar, though a police siren drives them away.
At an inn, Riley finally pulled a knife on Sparks and disarmed him, but jumped out of a window as Washington fired his pistol at Riley, catching him in the leg. Riley then made his way to his family house, where he found his entire family gunned down on Christmas Eve.
Set-up[]
Riley laughed out of pure agony, grabbing a gun and preparing to kill himself. However, he couldn't do it, and instead called Major Hoskins. However, a different man answered, informing Riley that Hoskins was killed. Riley went back to Sparks' room at the inn only to find it empty. He then called his psychiatrist, only to be answered by Sparks that they killed her to set him up. Riley figured this out, and escaped the room before Washington fired a grenade to destroy it.
Riley then visited his father, where he was hooked up to a life support machine. There, Riley was reminded of the Bone Lickers concert where he saw a dead prostitute. Though his father begged his son to kill him, Riley left the room. He listened in another room as Sparks and Washington shot his father to death.
Revenge[]
By January 2011, Riley was the most wanted man in Britain for the supposed killings. Vowing revenge, Riley climbed under an inbound truck to RAF Bonington and sneaked into the admin building to find where Sparks and Washington were staying. He slit Washington's throat as he slept and took Sparks hostage. As Riley arrived at his family house in a stolen car with Sparks, Riley told him that he would torture Sparks to death and went into another room. However, Sparks broke free and claimed a tire iron, bursting into the room. Riley then shot him to death.
Riley flew to Coahuila, Mexico, where he ambushed Roba's right-hand man Gilberto Alvarez and tortured him at the abandoned brainwashing facility for information on Roba. He discovers Roba was hiding in a compound in Chiapas while the cartels were torn apart by the US military in Coahuila. Riley managed to evade the many dangers and ambush Roba, killing him. Soon after, a helicopter containing Lieutenant General Herschel Shepherd landed, recruiting Riley to what would become Task Force 141 under the callsign of "Ghost".
TF141[]
Ukrainian school[]
In 2012, a grade school in Ukraine was attacked by Inner Circle terrorists, intending to kill them unless they received several million dollars in rubles. Ghost was sent in alone, distracting the terrorists as he told them his life story before killing one and allowing the rest of 141 to kill the rest.