Despite the efforts of the U.S. Marine Corps and British Special Air Service in the previous game, the ultranationalists seize control of the Russian Federation and declare Imran Zakhaev a hero and martyr, erecting a statue of him in the heart of Red Square. Meanwhile, Vladimir Makarov, one of Zakhaev's former lieutenants, begins a campaign of revenge by committing acts of terrorism over the course of five years.
In Afghanistan in 2016, Private First Class Joseph Allen of the U.S. Army Rangers assists in taking a city from insurgents. Impressed by Allen's abilities, Lieutenant General Shepherd recruits him into the Task Force 141, an elite, multi-national counter-terrorist unit under Shepherd's command. Meanwhile, two other 141 members, "Soap" and "Roach", infiltrate a Russian airbase in the Tian Shan mountains to retrieve an Attack Characterization System (ACS) module from a downed American satellite.
Allen is later sent on an undercover mission in Russia for the CIA under the alias "Alexei Borodin", joining Makarov in a massacre of civilians at the Zakhaev International Airport (formerly Sheremetyevo International Airport) in Moscow. However, Makarov, who has been aware of Allen's true identity, kills him during extraction, leaving his body behind to spark a war between the Russian Federation and the United States. Outraged by what was believed to be an American-sponsored terrorist attack, Russia retaliates by launching a surprise invasion on the East Coast of the United States after bypassing its early warning system.[a] Sergeant Foley leads his squad of U.S. Army Rangers, including Private James Ramirez, in defense of a suburb in Northern Virginia. They then proceed towards Washington, D.C., where more U.S. forces are fighting against the Russians for control of the capital.[30]
Meanwhile, the 141 searches for evidence that implicates Makarov as the mastermind behind the airport massacre, as proof of Makarov's involvement died with Allen. Intelligence leads them to a favela in Rio de Janeiro, where the team investigates Makarov's contact, weapons dealer Alejandro Rojas. They learn from Rojas that Makarov's worst enemy, known only as "Prisoner 627", is incarcerated in a Russian gulag east of Petropavlovsk. Task Force 141 assaults the prison and manages to free 627, who turns out to be Captain Price. Price agrees to aid the 141 and Shepherd in tracking down Makarov, but argues that the war in America needs to end. He leads the 141 to raid a Russian port and gain control of a nuclear submarine. Once inside the vessel, Price launches a submarine-launched ballistic missile towards Washington, D.C. and sets its nuclear warhead to detonate in the upper atmosphere. The resulting EMP disables all electronic devices. On the ground, Foley and his squad seek shelter from the hail of disabled aircraft falling from the sky before proceeding to the White House. There, they receive a transmission informing them that the Air Force is about to bomb all key structures in the city, including the White House, to deny the Russians a strong foothold. Foley's squad fight their way to the roof of the White House and set off green flares, causing the air strike to abort. Flares are lit on the rooftops of other landmarks, signifying that the city is in American hands.[30]
Narrowing down Makarov's hiding place to two separate locations, Task Force 141 decides to split up. Price and Soap travel to an aircraft boneyard in Afghanistan, while "Roach" and "Ghost" raid Makarov's safehouse on the Georgian-Russian border. At the safehouse, "Roach" and his team obtain Makarov's "operations playbook" from his computer and escape with Makarov's men in pursuit. However, when they reach the extraction point, Shepherd betrays and kills them, taking the intelligence with him. Price and "Soap", already aware of Shepherd's betrayal, escape a battle between Shepherd's Shadow Company and Makarov's men with Nikolai's help. During the escape, Price contacts Makarov on an open radio channel, where Makarov grudgingly reveals the location of Shepherd's mountain base in Afghanistan. Price and "Soap" raid the base in an attempt to take revenge on Shepherd in a suicide mission. During the infiltration, Shepherd destroys the base using the self-destruct system, then tries to escape and a boat pursuit ensues. At the climax of the pursuit, Shepherd boards a helicopter, but Price shoots it down as he and Soap tumble over a waterfall.[30]
After recovering from the fall, a dazed "Soap" follows Shepherd and attempts to kill him. Shepherd stabs him in the chest before facing Price in a hand-to-hand fight. Shepherd gains the upper hand on Price, but is killed by "Soap", who manages to pull the knife out of his own chest and throw it back at Shepherd. Price bandages "Soap"'s wounds as Nikolai arrives in a helicopter to extract them, having gone against Price's earlier advice not to return for them. Nikolai warns that "they'll be looking for us", but Price insists that "Soap" receive medical attention.
