Evelyna’s POV

An hour later, in Abilene, Texas, we took the exit and spotted the train tracks just to the side, just like Jamie Benn had indicated that we would. We quickly glimpsed Sid’s car and the train in the distance. And sure enough the locomotive was barrelling down the tracks, probably - most likely - controlled by the Penguin “mastermind.” My stomach did not feel good at that moment, I tell you. I kept my eyes glued on the tracks for Valeri Nichushkin. I was not going to give up hope and I certainly wasn’t going to have that train running him over and killing him. Oh no!

“There!” I shouted, pointing a few feet down from the car and closer toward the train. Fantastic!

The Blackhawk hit the wheel to the side and we parked immediately and got out. I grabbed Jonathan’s wrist and began to bolt toward the tracks. Nathan and Christina hurried after us.

“Kinny, Christina, stop that train from the inside, any way you can! Jonny and I are going to get Nichy!” I screamed over my shoulder, over the puffing and noise of the train car.

I received a nod and we split up. Of course, Sidney was nowhere in sight. Or he was chilling in his car. (Cocky son of a bitch!) There wasn’t time to go after him and see though. My only thought was getting Val off of the tracks and to safety. I skidded onto the railroad, feeling the rush of adrenaline and fear and the wind from the train car.

At once, Jonathan dropped down to remove the cloth gag from the struggling and petrified Russian hockey player. I, however, was a girl and the sight of my precious hockey player bound to the tracks and shirtless, made me blush deeply. I was caught staring at the glossy skin of his chest...the muscles he had…(oh man, I’m going to lose it...damn such a hottie! Oh why did he have to be so cute and adorable?)

“Jonathan Toews--?” Val questioned, with the thick accent of his that drove my heart wild. For a second I paused and sighed, but then the train’s whistle went off a few yards away and I tore at the rope restraints, wrapped tightly around his ankles.

After a few minutes, I had his ankles free and Jonathan untied the rope from the railing, but we didn’t have time to get the rope off of his wrists, so that was left on. We’d get that off, once we were out of harm’s way.

And turn’s out, Christina and Nathan couldn’t stop the train, so between Jonathan and I, we helped the big Russian (oh God, I was touching him!!) to his feet and darted off of the tracks, just in the nick of time.

We were like a trio of action stars, as we dove to the side. I landed on top of Val, gasping in shock. We scrambled to our feet, with Jonathan and I helping Val, whose wrists were still bound tightly together, as the train roared by, running over the spot and sending sparks to the side. I saw Christina jump off the train. But Nathan wasn’t with her and she looked panicked.

“Thank God, you all made it...Sid was on the train and he threw Nathan off…” She was looking around wildly for him. “NATHAN!! NATHAN, WHERE ARE YOU??!!”

“Over here!” Staggering over toward them was the blond haired Colorado player. He was limping and holding his arm on the other side of the tracks. He stumbled across them and collapsed on the ground. “Christina!”

“Nathan!”

My friend dashed over and immediately dropped down to check on her boyfriend. He was in serious pain, but somehow good spirits. Another warrior! She draped his unhurt arm over her shoulder and led him back to Jonathan, Val and I. She was murmuring to him and I could just make out the last thing she said to him, “Come on, Nathan, you’ll be okay. It’s going to be okay. You’re a warrior.”

“What happened?” I asked them, for once concerned about my friend and her new boyfriend, more than Val. (And maybe I was showing off, showing Val who considerate I was toward others.)

“We got ambushed in the car by Sid!” Christina stated.


Christina’s POV

I grabbed tightly to Nathan’s hand, as we prepared to leap onto the moving train. I felt like one of those stunt actors in a Hollywood movie, except that this wasn’t fake and Hollywood, but rather the real world and we were trying to stop a disaster from occurring.

“We need to stop the train, before it kills Evelyna, Jonathan and Val!” I screamed, as I darted into the train and looked for the lever that was used to stop the locomotive. After searching a few minutes, I realized with reluctant horror that Nathan was not attached to me. I stopped in my search and whipped around to look at the back of the car, where I’d last left him.

Sidney had Nathan in a headlock and was pinning his arm awkwardly behind his back. It looked painful. The Colorado player was struggling, but couldn’t pull himself free and I could see that with each attempt, Sidney drove his arm up farther. It made me cringe.

“Nathan, no!!” I screamed. “Sid, please, don’t--”

I watched as the Penguin ignored me and wrenched my Avalanche crush’s arm even farther up his back, making him scream in agony.

“Christina, help me, please!” Nathan yelled.

His terrified voice broke my heart. I wanted to help him, but I found that I couldn’t exactly move. Instead I watched in utter dismay as the Pittsburgh Penguin backed away to the connector platform between the two cars and then flung Nathan over the side of the train. (Why had I frozen like that?)

“NATHAN!!!!” I screamed and raced over to the window to peer out, finally able to move. I saw the Colorado Avalanche player lying on the ground, unmoving and my blood ran cold. I snapped my head to the side and saw the Penguin smirking.

“Tough shit, Christina. Maybe find a tougher man!” Sidney roared with laughter and raced into the trailing cars. I watched him vanished down the center and thought about giving chase to him, but I had to stop the train and then worry about Nathan.

I swallowed my fear and spun back to continue my search, but at that moment, out the front window of the car, I spotted the three - Val, Evelyna, and Jonathan - jump to safety, so I decided to abandon the effort and search and get off, so I could go find Nathan. I had to see if he was okay.

So I raced back to the connector and leapt from the train, as it whisked by. I’d have to punish Sidney later on.


Evelyna’s POV

“That’s horrible!” I gasped, as my friend patted her brave man and then hugged him closely.

“Sid’s a jerk. You’re the best--you’re a warrior Nathan MacKinnon and I love you so much!” my friend exclaimed, as she kissed Nathan’s lips.

I turned to my brother, who had the end of Val’s rope in his hands. He looked like he was walking my Russian or something. He realized what he was doing and held it out to me. He looked a bit awkward about the whole thing...but then again, weren’t we all a little awkward about this right now. (We were looking through the eyes of Reilly Smith, Captain Awkward.)

“Here you go,” he said, as he held the rope leash out for me to take. “He’s all yours.”

I smiled and took the rope in my hands. I pulled Val over to the side. I wanted to speak to him alone and explain what was going on. The poor guy had to be lost and so bewildered and though deep inside I loved the thought of that, I couldn’t be cruel to him. He needed to know. It was just fair like that. I carefully removed the rope from around Val’s wrists, releasing him. He stared down at me with his sparkling blue eyes. I gazed into them and noticed that he was beginning to crack that smile I loved so much...that clueless grin of his...oh, how my heart swelled.

“Спасибо. (Thank you.)” he stated.

“Добро пожаловать, дорогой. (You’re welcome, sweetie.)” I replied in Russian. It was time to put my lessons and knowledge in Google Translate to the test. I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but I felt ready.

“So, um, you are Evelyna?” he asked, with that sexy Russian accent of his. (Oh, the way he said my name...)

I nodded, speechless for once. I could feel my cheeks burning red. I couldn’t help it. I threw my arms around him and hugged him close. “Слава Богу, что вы в безопасности, Валерий! (Thank God, you are safe, Valeri!)”

“Вы можете говорить по-русски? (You can speak Russian?)” he asked, with a cute little grin.

I nodded. “Немного. (A little bit.) But I prefer to speak in English. I am still learning Russian through Google Translate.”

“Oh.” There was that lost grinning look of his that drove me wild.

“Listen Val, I owe you an explanation as to what happened here. It’s my fault you were kidnapped and you know…” I trailed off, looking back at the tracks.

“Связали с железнодорожными путями?”

“I take that to mean “tied to the train tracks” or something like that.”

He shrugged. “Eh, wasn’t too bad. You saved me.”

“Yes I did, and I will always save you.” I embraced him again.

“Evelyna, we really need to go. Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, remember?” Jonathan called.

I pulled away and looked over to my brother, who was standing by the trunk, indicating where Tyler’s dead body was. I stuffed the rope into my pocket. My idea was that I wasn’t going to leave it around, for Sidney to use to capture my Val again. He was free, he was mine and I wasn’t going to lose him! I found his hand slipping into mine and I let him hold it.

“Alright, Jonny, I’ll be there in a second.” I turned back to the blond man, who was looking around at the surroundings. He was a lot more calm and looked like a cat looking out a window. Minus the hunter’s instinct.

“So is Jonathan Toews your brother?”

“Yeah. He’s my brother.”

“And Nathan MacKinnon?”

“No, he’s the boyfriend of my friend Christina, who is the girl.” I pointed her out, though it was kind of obvious. And that made me blush again.

“Oh. Jamie Benn? Tyler Seguin?” he asked. “What about them?”

“I’ll fill you in on it in the car, okay?”

“Okay.”

I lead him back to the car. We all piled in. Nathan and Christina sat together, while I sat with Val. Jonathan drove. Of course. He was a better navigator and he didn’t have Patrick with him. He wasn’t exactly upset, but I knew my brother well and he was a little depressed.

“Don’t worry Jonny,” I told him, as we prepared to launch off and get the hell away from the train tracks, “Soon we’ll be back in Chicago and you can kiss Kanerboo again.” He didn’t much like that. And it was a flashback to “Captain Serious.” But he shook it off and eventually laughed - a fake laugh - but it was the kind that sounded like “ha-ha, funny.”

And so we zoomed off from the scene and headed back to Dallas, toward Jamie’s place. I told Val about the big adventure and all the close calls that we had had. How it had started out with Christina and I receiving the case at our work, in which Sidney Crosby had kidnapped eight hockey players. How the villainous Penguin had sent letters to us and played a “game.” And finally I told him about how Tyler Seguin had been an unfortunate casualty, not daring to bring up the damn kiss.

Nathan and Christina interjected about the Avalanche peril and again I cut out the part about Sidney kissing me. At the end, Val just grinned and nodded. I knew he hadn’t followed all of the story, but he seemed to not care or something. He gave me a kiss and thanked me again in Russian.

That was enough for me. I was on Cloud 9.

Notes

NICHY'S SAFE COMPLETELY!!!! Man, it's only been less than a month without seeing my baby, but it feels SO LONG!!!! I miss my Baby Russian so much!! :(
Sorry, I had to hurt Kinny for dramatic purposes...but he's okay.


Next up: Is the story done...or is there more?? Is Kaner going to be able to play or not...??