Jorge Franco (also known as The Cook) is a target that appears in the Three-Headed Serpent mission in HITMAN™ 2.
Background[]
Franco eventually graduated from college in the early 1980's, holding a degree in natural science with a chemistry focus. He got a job working for a local high school, where he taught chemistry and physics for many years while at the same time building up a rather unhealthy gambling addiction. After Pinochet was removed from power, Franco decided to go back to Chile to discover his roots. His mother had passed a few years earlier and Franco never really found the US to be a suitable home. Besides, he owed a substantial amount of money to a local gangster due to his habit of betting on the wrong horse. So, Franco simply ran away, leaving a wife and young child to fend for themselves.
While Franco didn't discover what happened to his father, he did manage to find some rather unsavory people. One of those people was Fernando Delgado, a wine maker of small repute and a known drug manufacturer who would often lend money to people in exchange for favors. Upon learning that Franco was a gifted chemist, Delgado told him he'd waive any debts in exchange for his services as a chemist. Franco agreed and found that his new vocation suited his needs very well indeed. He stayed with the Delgados until 2004 when everything was torn down around him. Franco, fearing for his life and suffering from severe PTSD, went into hiding but was brought back a few years later when Fernando Delgado's young nephew Rico, found him and brought him to Colombia. Franco was never quite the same, though.
Franco has now been working with Rico Delgado and his partner Andrea Martinez for more than a decade. He has developed several new brands of cocaine for an ever-hungrier market and is considered a full partner in the Delgado Cartel. He still suffers from the occasional lapse into gambling but has managed to turn his focus more and more on running the manufacturing part of the business.Personality[]
Jorge Franco is intelligent but a callous savant drug and research chemist. In spite of his advanced age and stooped posture, he is still active and he can be found shuffling around the plantation grounds to inspect equipment and crops. He takes a hands-on approach to his job, personally overseeing the construction of new equipment that he believes will improve the efficiency of the cocaine manufacturing process, as well as inspecting plant samples in his greenhouse.
During the game, he is also dismissive of people, and he cares deeply for his plants and machines, which can often be heard speaking fondly to them. In fact, these are the only times he uses the term "you" to address anything or anyone in conversation. Entering into certain areas where he needs to be alone will be considered 47 being part of a trespassing zone. While Jorge is valued by the cartel for his chemical genius, he is shown to be highly eccentric, almost exclusively referring to himself in first person plural, i.e "we" or "us" rather than "me" or "I" in conversation, as well as referring to others as "it" almost exclusively. The exact reason for this is never explained.
Jorge also has a fond relationship with Torres Piombo, particularly with their business of exchanging drugs. If 47 brings a repaired coca souvenir and disguises as the Hippie, a meeting with Jorge will be triggered after one of the elite guards contacts him. Tampering Jorge's souvenir with any form of emetic poison will make him trigger to vomit in an isolated cliff, where he can be pushed.
Habits[]
Jorge will eventually seek new plant specimens in the surrounding jungle throughout the game, if the player engineers a motive for him to do so. He is shown to be misanthropic in his treatment of the people working at his fields, not only being unconcerned about their welfare, but openly and loudly voices his frustration with them, considering them all inefficient and incompetent, and hopes that his new machine can replace most of them.
He is not above sampling his own product, though only occasionally. He is always accompanied by bodyguards who, strangely enough, he seems to hold in even deeper contempt than his workers, occasionally and dehumanizingly referring to them as "it" when giving them orders.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Jorge Franco bears a resemblance to late American comic book writer Stan Lee.
- He appears to be based on Walter White from the series Breaking Bad. Like White, Jorge is a former high school chemistry teacher with an obsession for making high-quality drugs, and is mentioned to have an ex-wife and a child.
- While he is on the cliff reaching a hanging flower sample, he will be called as "Dr. Livingstone" by 47. This is a reference to Victorian era explorer David Livingstone.
- He and most coca field workers can see through 47's Elite Guard disguise when equipped.
- He also has the same walking animation like Janus and Rutherford.
- During the game, Jorge is never shown to have an interaction with either Rico Delgado or Andrea Martínez.