Delta operators Walker, Adams and Lugo traverse the storm wall through to the outskirts of a mostly-buried Dubai on foot. They come in contact with a group of hostile armed survivors, referred to as "insurgents", who are in conflict with the 33rd and have captured a squad of 33rd soldiers. Throughout the rest of their journey, the team hears broadcasts on homemade speakers by the Radioman, a former journalist turned DJ that was once embedded with the 33rd in Afghanistan and now speaks on their behalf.
As the journey progresses, the team finds evidence of what had happened in Dubai over the preceding months, indicating that after the failed evacuation, the 33rd returned to Dubai as an occupying force and committed atrocities against the civilian population with the stated intent of maintaining order. Aggrieved by this, elements of the 33rd staged a coup d’etat against Konrad in protest, forming the Exiles. The CIA has been organizing the insurgents to attack both Konrad’s loyalist 33rd and the Exiles, presumably for the benefit of the survivors. Although there is now clear evidence against Konrad's virtue, Konrad once saved Walker's life in Kabul during the war. This makes Walker biased in favor of Konrad.
The team attempts to peacefully intervene when they come across refugees being rounded up by a platoon of loyalist 33rd. However, the soldiers mistake them for CIA operatives and begin a firefight resulting in the team having to kill their fellow American soldiers, much to the dismay of Lugo and Adams. As the 33rd retreats with a number of civilian prisoners, Walker insists on investigating further in hopes of evacuating survivors and finding Konrad. The team learns that a CIA agent, Daniels, has been captured by the 33rd and is being interrogated. Arriving to rescue Daniels, they are ambushed by the 33rd and discover that Daniels is long dead and that it was a trap set for Gould, another CIA agent. Soon, Gould arrives with a band of insurgents, allowing Walker to escape. Gould is captured and killed, but the team learns that they may get more information at a locationcalled the Gate. Arriving at the Gate, which is heavily guarded by the 33rd, the team, disregarding Lugo's objections, uses a mortar loaded with white phosphorus to attack the 33rd. However, the team learns that the 33rd had taken the civilians for their own safety in the coming battles and that the civilians had been killed by the white phosphorus rounds. Walker shows no remorse, and pushes the others on despite their anger.
Shortly after, Konrad begins communicating with Walker over a radio they find inside the Gate. He taunts Walker over his inner doubts and fears as tensions rise between the team, making Walker adjust his belief that Konrad is innocent. Delta finds Gould's partner Agent Riggs leading a raid on the Underwater Aquatic Coliseum, the city's last main water supply. Riggs tells Delta that insurgent control of the water will cripple the 33rd's operations in Dubai and bring peace. However, after the team aids Riggs, he intentionally destroys thewater supplies and Walker learns that the CIA wanted to wipe out the entire population so that no one would learn of the 33rd's atrocities, which would cause the whole region to declare war on the United States in retaliation. Though a costly war has now been averted, the entire city will begin dying of dehydration within four days. To prevent this and organize an evacuation, the team, which is now becoming increasingly edgier and more violent, with Walker suffering from hallucinations, heads to the Trans-Emirates Building to silence the Radioman and warn the city using the radio. The Radioman surrenders peacefully but is shot by Lugo. Adams subsequently commandeers a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter for Delta which later crashes in the sandstorm.
As the team attempts to re-unite after the crash, Lugo gets lynched by a mob of civilians. When attempts to resuscitate Lugo fail, Walker and Adams can either scare the crowd or kill them in retribution. Walker'shallucinations are nearly constant at this point. The two are soon surrounded by the last of Konrad's men. Walker attempts to surrender to get inside, but an enraged Adams insists on fighting to the death and shames Walker into running for safety inside the tower.
Weary, grieving, and on the brink of death, Walker arrives at the penthouse of the tower and confronts Konrad. Konrad, who is painting a scene of the white phosphorus after-effects, questions Walker on his choices throughout the rescue mission. At first, Konrad appears to be the paranoid, charismatic force behind the atrocities Walker was hoping for, until Walker finds his decaying corpse on the penthouse deck. Walker has been suffering from a dissociative disorder to rationalize the actions he has witnessed and carried out. The real Konrad had committed suicide an unknown amount of time after the broadcast that brought Delta to the city. The Konrad that Walker has been in contact with during the game is actually a traumatic hallucination that none of his team witnessed, existing only within his mind. This mental projection of Konrad appears to Walker, explaining that Walker knew he had the choice of leaving Dubai numerous times, but pushed ahead out of a desire to be a hero. To maintain his 'sanity' after the white phosphorus strike, many subsequent events in the game were distorted by Walker's mind to make Konrad a moral scapegoat. With his fantasy coming to an end now that the truth is in front of him, 'Konrad' points a gun at Walker’s head and begins counting to five
