Evelyna’s POV

“HE DID WHAT??” I bellowed, as my brother looked at his phone. “THAT BASTARD DID WHAT??”

We had just finished getting Tyler’s dead body shoved into the trunk of the car. I really hoped that there was no one around who would get curious and think that we were in the wrong, but luckily for us, no one did. It was silent...well, kind of. It had been totally quiet, minus the wind and me screaming in fury.

Jonathan showed me his phone, which had a picture on it. I was ignited with a passionate fire of anger at what I saw. Valeri Nichushkin was gagged and Sidney had purposefully zoomed in on his helpless face. He had made sure to crop out the background, so it was only zoomed in and focused on his face. His poor, poor, poor face...it made me sick to my stomach.

“HE HAS NO RIGHT TO DO THAT!!” I roared. I punched the back of the seat and then folded my arms and fell back letting out a loud grunt of frustration. “My poor sweet, innocent and beloved Russian! Nichy!!”

Jonathan wasn’t sure what to do. He stared at his phone and the image, contemplating what to say.

“I have to find him. We-we have to save him! Where is he? What did Sid tell you?”

My brother shook his head. “Nothing. Just sent this picture and the message said, ‘Show Evelyna or else.’”

“That Penguin is driving me nuts! He’s threatening you and h-h-he gagged Val!!” I gasped. “HE GAGGED MY BABY RUSSIAN!! NICHY, POOR NICHY!!” I was panicking and downright furious!

Jonathan’s phone went off again and he pulled up the new message. It simply read, “Can you save him?”

Damn right, I was going to save him! I would find him and I would save him! And I would get him now!!

“Christina, we need to get him! We need to!” I looked at my friend, completely worked up over the texts and the letter.

“We will Evelyna, settle down.”

“How can I--HE GAGGED MY NICHY!! Not just tie him up, no...tied a fucking cloth around his face!!”

Jonathan put his hand up. “I got this, Christina. Eve, pull yourself together. You’re not going to let him get away with doing this to him, right? So just stick it to him...get control of yourself and I promise we will find him!”

I calmed myself down. He had a point. I had to remain in control. I had this. I would save my crush, like Christina had done with Nathan. And we would have a moment together and life would be good.

Sure, we had lost Tyler, but that was only one casualty...and it was Tyler…(I wouldn’t have to worry about kissing him anymore...thank goodness!) I cared, because he was Val and Jamie’s friend and he was talented and innocent...but gosh, was he annoying as hell with his flirtiness and boyish looks. And those tattoos! (But was this really worse than Kaner’s mullet?)

My brother passed his phone to me and told me to keep it. He was sure that any more messages coming in would be from Sid and that I deserved to receive them and be in control. I took it, glimpsing the horrible picture that the Penguin had taken. The scared, worried blue eyes of the man that I loved...that was what I was looking at. It truly broke my heart, but I didn’t want to lose it again.

“Poor Nichy.” I held the phone close to me. “I’m coming. I’ll save you. But where are you?”

Luckily I didn’t have to wait much. The phone came to life once again and a new message appeared. Forget about any more letters from Sidney Crosby...it was texts now. I read his text message, my stomach turning in knots. He obviously wasn’t going to play around or make me and the others try to guess Val’s whereabouts. He just came right out and told us.

I sniffled a bit, but I slowly got myself under control. We had gotten into the car by now and were just sitting there ready. We were going to go tell Jamie and drop off Tyler, but we didn’t factor it taking so fast for Sid to tease us with Val. Turns out, Tyler would have to wait and remain in the trunk, while we rescued his linemate. (Honestly, we were improvising a little bit...)

“What did he say?” Jonathan asked.

“Basically Sid has tied Val to the train tracks in Central Texas! If I know that bastard by now, he has something evil planned. He wants me there quickly...because…” I trailed off, with a horrible look on my face. “The train!! Oh my gosh, Jonny drive!”

Jonathan spun around and turned the car on. He quickly pulled out of the garage and zoomed out and into the Texas afternoon air. I clutched the phone tightly, sitting in the passenger seat.

“What do you think he’s planning?” the Blackhawk questioned.

“I’m sure the train is coming and he knows how close it is! We have to get to him!”

“What about the train? We can contact the train!” Nathan suggested from the back.

I turned to the side, in an attempt to face everyone. “No! I’m sure Sid took care of the conductors. It’s probably on “auto pilot” mode or something.”

“True.” Christina shrugged.

She snuggled against Nathan, hugging him close to her. She really wasn’t going to let him go. I didn’t blame her, I’d probably do the same thing with Val.

“Do you have Jamie’s number on here?” I asked.

“Jamie Benn?” my brother questioned.

“Yeah. He knows Texas and I don’t feel like sucking up to Sid right now. We need to find where he had tied up Val though and Jamie Benn would know that.”

“Oh, true. Yeah, I have it. It’s in the contacts.”

I nodded and scrolled through his contacts list. Patrick Kane as “Kaner” - I changed it to “Kanerboo” - and more hockey players. I paused at one of the names, “Really Jonny? You have Kevin Bieksa’s number?”

“Yeah.”

“Whatever. Just know that I don’t approve of that.” I shook my head and tapped on the Dallas Stars’ Captain’s name.

The phone rang two times. Then Jamie answered. “Hey Jonny, what’s up?”

“Hey Jamie, this is actually his sister. My name’s Evelyna. Jonny’s driving right now…”

“Hey, what’s up?”

Twirling my red-dyed hair, I launched into a response to him, “Well, its a long story and we’ll fill you in later, but we kinda need your help.” I tried to play it slow with him and I was struggling with the right way and words of how to tell the Dallas Star that his friends and linemates had been kidnapped.

“Just ask him where the train tracks are!” my brother exclaimed. “Stop chatting with him like a girl and ask him!”

“I’m trying to be gentle with the news, Jonny.”

“Hey, Jamie, this is Jonathan Toews, Tyler was killed by Sidney Crosby and we are looking for Valeri Nichushkin, who is tied to railroad tracks somewhere in Texas!”

I shot him a look; he returned it. On the other end, I heard Jamie gasp in horror. “Tyler’s dead?!”

“See what you’ve done?!” I mouthed to Jonathan.

The Blackhawk Captain slammed on the brakes at a stoplight. I could now hear the man crying on the other end. I felt bad for him, but we needed to find Val. There wasn’t much time to chat and mourn Tyler and his death at the moment. I was sure the ladies man would be okay and would want us to go find Val and save him before we dealt with his tragedy.

“Look, Jamie, I’m sorry about Tyler, but we’ll explain and fill you in on details later okay? Right now, you need to help us so the...same same thing doesn’t happen to Val. Now, can you please tell us about the railroads here?”

“Okay, the railroad as I know, just from talk and other people, is that it runs parallel to the highway in Abilene. I’d try looking there. Sid probably doesn’t know much about Texas, so he’d pick some place with easy access to the highway...try Abilene! And please save my liney! I’ll hold you to getting me answers after you find Val.”

I thanked him, apologized for Jonny’s negligence and hung up. “Abilene!” I commended Jonathan, who saw the sign and speed on down the highway, heading away from Dallas. It was time to save a Russian!

Notes

Oh man. This is spot on. I'd totally react this way. And if Therrien or some asshole wants to try it, I won't hesitate to get a flight and find Val and rescue him!! ;) Don't hurt my baby or you're name goes on my list!
Baby Russian is adorable as always. Hang on a little longer, sweetie! Eve's coming for you!


Next up: Just in the nick of time! (AKA: Suck it Sidney!)