Time Stands Still

Antti Niemi paced back and forth in the lobby of the HDA field office in Dallas. He was freaking out.

One of the interns that he was teaching, Jonathan Druin, quickly sped into the room through the glass doors, holding onto a stack of papers. He walked with a purpose up to the boss.

“Druy?” Antti questioned, pausing in his nervous pace. “What news have you?”

“According to sources, Tyler Seguin has been kidnapped by two young adults! That is all I know.”

Antti spun around and slammed his fists on the table. It made the young rookie jump in place. “Dang it! That’s not good enough! He needs to be found!”

“What about Reilly and Val?”

“I need to get them back here, you’re right! Keep eyes to the streets and see if you can find out more information!”

“I will, sir!”

The Tampa Bay rookie dipped his head and scurried back off, out of the lobby and headed into one of the elevators.

The HDA boss scratched his chin, before he took out his company cell phone and sent out a text message to his two private eyes in the field. “Tyler Seguin is missing. Come back to the office ASAP.”

He sat down in a chair, shaking his head. “I tried to warn you, Segs. You can’t be sending out tweets like this. But we’ll find you; I’ll find you.”

The doors swung open, as Reilly and Val stormed in. They headed up to their boss.

“What happened? You two were supposed to be on Tyler! You were supposed to make sure nothing happened to him!”

“Okay, first of all, Nemo, we weren’t supposed to keep an eye on Tyler, we were sent to try and talk to him about his online behavior, but he wouldn’t listen to us! And second of all, he was a jerk to us! What were we supposed to do?”

“Ugh, you’re right!” Antti looked down at his feet.

“So, what are we going to do?”

“We can’t let Tyler die! No, no, no!” Val spoke.

“Awkward Man and Shy Boy, I’m counting on you!”

“Awkward Man?” Reilly questioned, sharing a look with his partner.

“And Shy Boy?” Val added on.

Antti nodded. “I figured that it sounded right as your duo name! But I really am relying on you! Tyler cannot be hurt! Find him and bring him back to Dallas!”

Val and Reilly share another look, before turning back to look at their boss.

“Why do you care so much for Tyler?”

“He’s just...a talented forward and Dallas needs him and he doesn’t deserve this. He should be given time to mature.”

“Okay...” Reilly still wasn’t sure about his bosses’ explanation. He thought there was something else going on. Antti Niemi was hiding something, but he wasn’t about to reveal his secret yet.

“A trust you both will find the Star, before his is killed!”

“We will.”

“You can count on us!”

“Good, then go ahead and get started.”

“Where should we start?”

Antti got up from the desk and rounded it. He was about to tell them that he didn’t know, when his phone buzzed. He whipped it out instantly and read a text message. “Boston.”

“Boston?” Reilly inquired. “What have our nutjob fans done now?”

“Apparently a Bostonian couple took him. Someone - a witness - just informed me that they heard a Bostonian accent yelling at someone, before a car engine zoomed off. Go to Boston and look around there! Let me know if you find anything!”

“We will, we’ll make you and the HDA proud!”

“Конечно (Of course)!” Val exclaimed, with a wide grin, as he straightened up and raised his head up, proudly.