yeah. I get it. She's an American badass." He smirked at Sarah and shrugged. "You're still a babe. You want some coffee?"
Sarah looked the guy over. He was old school, and she could respect that. In her years in the Air Force, she'd met very few women who could hold their own. They certainly hadn't made it any easier for her. She nodded. "Yeah, coffee would be a good start."
~~~
They all stood around the island in Vince’s gourmet kitchen drinking the coffee Guinea Man had already had brewed.
Chris stirred a spoonful of creamer into his coffee. "Were you expecting somebody or do you always have a pot of coffee on?"
Guinea shrugged. "I like my coffee. Besides, I usually take a walk around the island every few hours and like to take a cup with me. It's always been a peaceful walk until tonight." Guinea Man pulled a travel mug out of an old M-16 ammo pouch hanging from his belt.
Will nodded. "That's Guinea . Don't mess with his coffee or his smokes. You still smoking?"
"Hell yeah. I'm dead already so why quit?"
Sarah sniffed the warm coffee, recognized the aroma, and took a gulp. "This tastes just like Dunkin Donuts coffee."
"Yeah, I get it shipped in by the case. If you're gonna be stranded on a deserted island, you might as well have good coffee, right?"
Sarah and Jason both nodded.
Brian seemed agitated. "All right, I hate to be rude and interrupt the coffee klatch here, but we've got important shit to do and time’s a wastin’ so let’s get down to business and exchange some information."
"Brian is right." Will pointed at Guinea Man. "I already know your story, but why don’t you tell the gang?"
Guinea Man nodded and looked around the kitchen at each team member as he spoke. "The Agency burned me. I didn't have a backup, so I staged my death and Vince had some friends willing to move human cargo. I've been hanging out here for the past six months while I work out a new identity and figure out a strategy."
Will cocked his head at Guinea . "What's the holdup? You like playing old man and the sea or what?"
Guinea smiled and looked down at his feet for a moment. "Turns out choosing a name and inventing a back story aren’t as easy as I'd thought. I still haven't come up with a name." He looked over at the rest of the team. "You can call me Guinea ."
Everyone nodded. It was a reasonable story, and Will could vouch for the guy.
Will took a gulp of his coffee, set the cup on the marble countertop, and then placed both hands firmly on the counter. "Vince has been kidnapped. The Agency gave us bad intel on our last op, and a Russian Mafioso took him somewhere in Saudi Arabia . The Agency buried it and left him twisting in the breeze so we're off the clock and the reservation on this.”
Surprise registered on Guinea 's face. "Serious?"
Will nodded. "Deadly."
“We've got a contact at the Saudi Embassy who says he can get us some details. This is now our base of operations."
Guinea ran his hand through his black hair. Long locks fell back down into his face. "The Agency is really beginning to piss me off. Its bad enough they burned me but leaving a stand-up guy like Vince hanging out there, well, that's enough to make a man go batshit. Whatever you're doing, count me in. I ain't no stranger to going off the reservation, and I got nothing to lose. I'm a ghost."
Will eyed Guinea . "We aren't negotiating with this guy. We're going in hot and cleaning the scene. You could get worse than burned on this."
Guinea Man smiled and his eyes lit up like two Christmas stars. "Old school style, badass operations. Now that's what I'm talking about!"
Will picked up his coffee cup and took a drink. "I think we can use all the operational assistance we can get." He looked around at the team. "Do we want to take some time to talk about this?"
"Nah, I'm cool with bringing him in on it." Jason extended a