Hired Gun is the fourth mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s 16-mission campaign. It is set four days before the invasion that drives the main story. Captain John Price is working alongside Valeria Garza and her cartel crew when Phillip Graves and Shadow Company stop their Paris-bound train in a French rail yard. The mission sits between Following Orders and Losing Ground. It mixes a long infantry push with a two-stage fight against Graves, first in the air and then on the ground.
Quick answer: You play as John Price. The mission ends after you down Graves’ helicopter with the PR-48 Anvil, beat him on foot, and shoot him in a rail shed. Completing it unlocks the Dallas Operator.
Hired Gun mission details in Modern Warfare 4
| Detail | Hired Gun |
|---|---|
| Campaign position | Mission 4 of 16 |
| Timeline | 4 days before the invasion |
| Playable character | Captain John Price |
| Setting | Rail yard and depot in France, en route to Paris |
| Allies | Valeria Garza, Gordo, Luca, Romero |
| Enemy | Phillip Graves and Shadow Company |
| Completion reward | Dallas Operator |
| Co-op | None, single-player only |
The in-game briefing frames the mission as an “unholy alliance.” Price helps Valeria move a package, and in return he gets something called the Archer. Some early mission listings name Dallas as the playable character. In the game itself, the title card reads “JOHN PRICE,” and Dallas is the Operator you unlock for finishing the mission.
A Silver trophy called Bullet Train is tied to the mission. It asks for 50 kills in Hired Gun while you stand on train cars. That trophy comes from a datamined list and Activision has not confirmed it yet.
The train ambush that opens Hired Gun
The mission opens on a passenger train at sunrise with the card “4 DAYS BEFORE INVASION.” Price is reading encrypted texts from Laswell, shown as “KL.” She tells him a DIA weapon has been stolen and that the Shadows are chasing it. She also wonders whether the theft explains why Makarov was in New York.
Valeria then joins Price to talk about their meeting in Paris. The conversation is cut short when the French conductor announces an obstruction on the line ahead. Valeria grabs her rifle and starts barking orders. Moments later Graves arrives in a helicopter, and Shadow Company surrounds the train.
Graves uses a loudspeaker to demand the package while passengers spill out of the stopped carriages into the gunfire. The “HIRED GUN” title appears as Price steps into the yard and control passes to the player.
Hired Gun objectives and areas in order
The mission follows one route from the stopped train to a roundhouse turntable. Each area has its own objective prompt and its own type of threat.
| Objective | Area | Main threat |
|---|---|---|
| Find a way out of the trainyard | Tracks and flatbed railcars | Infantry and snipers |
| Go through the warehouse | Entrepôt Nord | Locked shutter door |
| Get through the shipping yard | Container terminal | Rooftop snipers, attack dogs |
| Head toward the maintenance building | Rail overpass | Graves’ helicopter rockets |
| Get through the maintenance building | Two-story service depot | Troops on walkways and pits |
| Destroy Grave’s helicopter using the grenade launcher. | Roundhouse turntable yard | Rockets and minigun |
Trainyard and Entrepôt Nord
The opening stretch is cover-to-cover fighting across rails, boxcars and flatbeds stacked with concrete pipe segments. Price’s rifle carries a hybrid scope that toggles between magnifications. Graves taunts him over comms the whole way and keeps asking for the package.
Price, Valeria and Gordo meet again at the entrance to the Entrepôt Nord warehouse. Inside, a cartel gunman keeps a depot employee at gunpoint and forces him to swipe his keycard to lift the roll-up shutter.
Shipping container yard
Past the warehouse is a dense maze of shipping containers. Snipers sit on the container roofs and patrols move through the narrow lanes below. Attack dogs also charge out of the gaps between containers, and they can drop Price quickly. The game’s defeat screen after a dog kill points the player to the counter prompt for dog attacks. The route also climbs onto crane structures and container roofs before it rejoins the main line.
Overpass and maintenance building
Once the yard is clear, the team heads along the tracks toward a smoking maintenance facility, with Luca now on comms. Graves comes back here in an armed helicopter and fires rockets down an elevated bridge loaded with rail cars. Taking cover behind the train is the safe play. One reliable method is to stay hidden and use the MAR-9 to shoot the RPG gunner in the helicopter, because stepping into the open invites a rocket.
Inside, the maintenance building is a two-story train servicing hall. Shadow Company soldiers hold the upper gantries and the service pits below. Grenades and armor plates are available before the building, and they are worth picking up first.
The PR-48 Anvil and the Graves fight
The squad reaches a wheelhouse next to the roundhouse. There, Luca and Romero open a car trunk filled with weapons and body armor. The launcher inside is the PR-48 Anvil. The objective text calls it a grenade launcher, and it is the weapon the mission expects you to use against the helicopter. Price’s loadout in the mission also includes a Krait P44 pistol, an M4 assault rifle and a 2-plate armor vest.
The cartel crew gathers at the “SORTIE EXIT” doors and then pushes out into the open turntable yard. Graves circles overhead firing rockets and a minigun. Direct hits from the Anvil into the hovering helicopter set it on fire. Once enough damage lands, it crashes onto the rail turntable. Open boxcars around the yard give some cover while you line up shots.
Graves survives the crash. In heavy armor, he fights Price on foot among the tanker cars and boxcars while the remaining infantry keep shooting. Sustained rifle fire strips his armor until he is badly wounded and staggers back into an open rail shed. The fight is over once he retreats into that shed, and a cutscene takes over.
How Hired Gun ends and what it unlocks
In the dim maintenance bay, Price finds Graves bleeding on the floor, leaning against a yellow-striped container. Graves offers to clear Price’s name if Price gives him the case. He also taunts Price about his past loyalties. Valeria enters, warns Price against making a deal, then leaves him to finish the job. Graves challenges him, and Price holds his suppressed pistol to Graves’ forehead and fires. The final shot is triggered by an on-screen FIRE prompt.
A title card reading “PRESENT DAY” appears next, marking the mission’s completion and the story’s return to the main timeline. Completing Hired Gun unlocks the Dallas Operator, one of the campaign’s 16 completion rewards. The rewards can be used in Multiplayer and DMZ once the full game releases on October 23, 2026. The campaign has been available in early access since October 16. Losing Ground is mission 5.
Graves’ death changes the cast going forward. Shadow Company loses its commander in a flashback, four days before the invasion, while the stolen weapon case remains in Valeria’s hands and the question of Makarov’s role remains open.
