Operation Canyon Storm

Operation Canyon Storm
Game	Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
Preceding mission	Deadly Cargo
Forthcoming mission	Our Hidden Past
Character(s)	Gabe Logan
Weaponry	AK-47 China Type 56 UNP .45 M16/M203 M249 SAW M82 BFG
Objectives	Reach al-Jamil's hidden bunker Clear a path to tank Disarm anti-tank mine Relay fortified emplacements to driver Disarm anti-tank mine Relay fortified emplacements to driver
Opposition force(s)	al-Jamil thugs Anti-vehicle turrets
Depicts	Raid on Bitar's Bunker

Tank Driver: "Entrance to your cave's on the other side of that blockade."

Gabe Logan: "Let's take 'em out!"

Tank Driver: "I didn't expect 'em to roll out the red carpet. Call out some more targets."

Plot synopsis (Start of episode)

Outside Taif Air Force Base, in Saudi Arabia, the plane that Gabe and Maggie were on is stopped by NATO personnel. Gabe asks Cordell what the hell's going on when he sees Maggie being taken into custody. Cordell tells him not to worry about MI6; he should be thinking of Lian Xing instead. He asks Gabe if he found his partner. Gabe replies no, telling Cordell she's hiding with her husband. The pencil neck tells Gabe that the Chinese haven't got Shen yet and Logan realises he was played from the start - he was being a 'bird-dog'. Cordell counters that's what Logan is good for, and tells Gabe to look into the distance. He explains that last night, somebody blew up half the desert - Iraq's largest oil field was destroyed. Cordell adds that twenty square miles was gone and Gabe realises Bitar did it using Shen's prototype. The pencil neck tells Gabe Bitar did it indeed and shows a picture of Lian, with Shen, together somewhere, as well as the terrorist. He explains further that Bitar was searching for the highest bidder and tells Gabe the President has pulled the plug - the Agency was shut down. He adds that Logan is officially retired and tells his men to get him out of the area. Gabe protests that the pencil neck's making a mistake. Bitar, if he has Shen, is constructing another device, and Gabe insists that Cordell needs him. The pencil neck isn't convinced, telling Gabe to go home and find Addison. Logan is now in the private sector.

Gabe arrives in the 7th Street Loft Apartments, Langley, Virginia. He heads for his answering machine, where Teresa left him a message. He opens the fridge to look inside while the message plays: She tells him goodbye, saying that they were reassigned and that Gabe knows the 'no contact' drill. She tells him she feels sorry, and fed the fish while he was gone. Gabe heads for the fish bowl next, asking himself 'fed the fish'? He then finds another message: 'Cordell listening. See you at the ring. Corner of 12th and Vine' with 'T'. Gabe says 'thanks Teresa' and leaves to meet her.

On a rooftop above the boxing ring, Trinidad watches Gabe with binoculars. Logan enters Tommy's boxing gym and finds Teresa exercising. She greets him, and tells him not to worry: Mujari swept the place yesterday so it would be bug-free. Gabe muses on what Cordell said - he can't blame the pencil neck. Teresa questions him, asking if he believes all that crap and Logan tell her "I don't know anymore". He says that Lian isn't a traitor, but would have asked for his help if she needed it. Teresa tries to knock some sense into him - she didn't ask because she couldn't. Gabe asks for her to explain and she sarcastically tells him Lian's in love with him. She adds that Lian needs Gabe's help. Logan isn't convinced, saying that it doesn't matter since the Agency's gone. Teresa counters that it's gone but not dead - she has a backup plan. She hits a switch and the lights turn on, showing Gabe that before Cordell shut them down, they backed up everything inside the gym. Teresa hacked for a bit since that point. She shows Gabe the picture Cordell threw in his face, with Lian, Shen and Bitar. She then shows another image Cordell didn't show Gabe: a group of terrorist thugs pointing their weapons at Lian and Shen. Gabe realises Lian's being held and Teresa explains further: Cordell has found al-Jamil and is readying a full military assault. He will completely demolish Bitar's base. Gabe realises that's why Cordell wanted to get him out of the way. Teresa asks him what he will do and he resolves to rescue Lian before Cordell wipes the base off the map.

At first light in Dimashq, Syria, Gabe is close to al-Jamil's desert base. He watches from a vantage point as a squadron of bombers blast from overhead, then asks Teresa how long he has before they start dropping bunker buster bombs. Teresa tells him he still has 3 hours to the air strike but he curses, saying that Cordell may have moved up his schedule. He then leaps off the mountaintop as bombs drop around him, causing a series of explosions.

Plot synopsis (The mission)

Gabe calls Teresa and tells her he's 3 kilometers off target. He is told there is a tank crew close to him. The tank commander curses the terrorists, and Gabe asks for a sit rep. The driver tells him his team was ambushed while unpacking the tank and his team is dead. He asks who's in charge of the operation and Gabe tells him a Washington suit called Cordell, a real pencil neck. He wants to get his hands on the 'son of a bitch' and Gabe orders that he stand in line.

When the game begins, the player will have to take out a few al-Jamil thugs before the tank driver can head to his vehicle. He will then need a few minutes to turn the vehicle on, and Gabe must kill more enemies before he can proceed. The duo fight past enemies to al-Jamil's desert bunker, being protected by anti-artillery turrets, missile launching enemies and land mines, but they destroy all the ambushes. Eventually, they arrive at a blockade with snipers, RPGs and mounted cannons. Using the MBT's powerful weaponry, the two decimate the enemy emplacements and destroy a vehicle pile-up, before heading over a bridge.

With the enemies dead, Gabe attempts to move forward but the tank driver stops him - he sees mines ahead. Logan says that he doesn't like this but the tank driver asks him to diffuse the mines - he will cover Gabe. Just as Gabe tries to disarm the explosives, he sees C4 charges lining the bridge's side. He orders the tank to back up and shouts that the bridge is rigged to blow, but just as the driver reverses, the explosives detonate, sending the two into the bottom level.

Hidden Evidence

• At the start, before you ask the soldier to get into the tank, go toward the right section. Climb up, and climb up again. There will be a dead body with a hidden evidence. Use EDSU to help.
• When you are asked to diffuse the second mine, go toward the 'barbed wood' area, opposite to the tank. At the corner there is a hidden evidence lying on the ground. Use EDSU to help.
• Diffuse the second mine.

Trivia

• This is very similar to Syphon Filter 2's I-70 Mountain Bridge because both missions involve a bridge being rigged with explosives.
• It is also a resemblance of Syphon Filter 3's The Beast, Omega Strain's Mazyr, Belarus: Belaya Vezha and Dark Mirror's The Trojan Horse in that all these missions require the player to destroy a tank. However, Gabe is here seen working with the tank.
• The tank driver's phrase 'They sent us to BFE on a goddamn Charlie Foxtrot mission' has two synonyms: BFE refers to 'Bum Fuck Egypt' (out in the middle of nowhere) and 'Charlie Foxtrot' meaning 'Cluster Fuck'.
• The name of this mission seems to be a reference to the codename for the combat phase of the Gulf War, a conflict against Iraq by a coalition led by the United States of America, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.