Finn had been sitting out on the CIWS catwalk for close to ninety minutes, watching the ocean and sketching, when he became aware of someone trying to observe him without his knowledge.
“You might as well come sit down,” he called out as he continued sketching.
His stalker stepped out from around the corner, sat down a few meters off, and followed his gaze out at the ocean.
West Texas, the helo pilot.
After a while she spoke. “What’s that, some kind of meditation?” Nodding at his sketch pad.
Finn made no reply.
“I didn’t know SEALs meditated. Guess it takes all kinds.”
Finn wondered where this was going.
“You have some kind of special mantra or something?”
“No, ma’am.” He hesitated, then added, “No mantra.”
They were silent. The wind rose and fell, moaning faintly as it slipped across the flight deck above.
The pilot spoke up again. “If you did have a mantra, what would it be?”
Finn thought, She’s good. She’d picked up on the brief hesitation.
“I don’t have a mantra,” he said.
She looked over at him. “I see you everywhere. Are you stalking us?” Her voice suddenly sharp as the edge of a flint knife.
“Us?”
“Me. My roommate. Are you?”
Finn turned to a fresh page and continued sketching. “No ma’am. I’m not stalking anyone.”
“You’re talking to my guy. Stickman.”
Finn nodded. “Good kid. Solid operator.”
“He’s my guy,” she said. “On my crew, which you have zero business going anywhere near. As of now you’re going to quit talking to him, quit distracting him. He doesn’t need it.”
In his mind, Finn smiled. “If I don’t?”
“Then I kick your skinny ass and throw you off the boat.”
Finn nodded. He could see her doing that. Kicking some guy’s ass and throwing him off the boat. Tucker, maybe.
“I was sorry to hear about your roommate and her crew,” he said.
A lie with a basis.
“Yeah,” she said after a minute. Her voice had gone quiet and lost the hard edge. “Sucks.”
After a few minutes of silence, she got up and slipped back inside without another word.
Finn continued sketching.
If you did have a mantra, what would it be?
“Still here, Ray,” he murmured into the wind.
Ssssssstillhhhheeeeeerrrrrre the wind replied.