Lauren and Annette maneuvered their way out of the stands and headed toward the Capital's locker room where the trainers and medical crew were securing Ovechkin to a stretcher.
"What the hell happened?" snarled Lauren as she pushed passed them to get a look at Ovechkin.
"We don't know yet," said one of the guys on the medical crew as he strapped Ovechkin down, "Looks like a seizure…caused by what I have no clue."
Lauren and Annette took a good look at Ovechkin while the medical crew lifted him up and headed out where the ambulance was waiting to take him to the hospital.
"What do you think?" asked Lauren as she glanced at Annette, frowning in confusion, "This doesn't sound right…what could have caused that reaction?"
Annette shook her head in bewilderment, still shocked by what had just transpired, "I have no clue…is he on any medications? Any recent injuries?"
"Nothing," replied the Capital's head trainer, looking distraught, "Nothing at all…he's healthy as can be. I have no idea what could have caused this."
While they were speaking, Lauren's eyes grew wide as she began to realize what must have happened, "Oh…my…god."
"What? What is it?" asked Annette, recognizing the look in her partner's eyes.
"The water bottles…get the damn water bottles off that bench now!" screamed Lauren, her eyes wild with panic, "Get all the food and drinks out of this locker room too! NOW!"
It took Annette only a millisecond to comprehend the reason behind Lauren's panic. She remembered the excited look on the Penguin's faces and the little exchange between Crosby and Malkin and instantly realized what had transpired.
"Shit!" she hissed as she raced after Lauren.
"What the hell?" stammered a flustered-looking Neuvirth as Lauren pushed her way past him on the bench.
The rest of the players began to cry out in surprise and confusion as Lauren scrambled around, grabbing all the water bottles off of the bench. She literally took one out Alex Semin's hand, much to his chagrin.
"What's going on?" asked Mike as he reached out and grabbed Lauren's elbow.
"I think Alex was poisoned," said Lauren, her face grave as she and Annette gathered up the bottles.
"Holy shit," murmured Mike Green, paling slightly, "Oh my god…is he gonna live?"
"I don't know…I don't know what this is, but we're going to find out," said Lauren as she glanced nervously around the team, trying to gauge if anyone else was having a reaction.
"Ovie only drinks out of the blue bottle," said Brooks Laich, overhearing Lauren and Mike's conversation, "It's just one of his things."
"Did anyone else drink out of this blue bottle?" shouted Annette as she held it up for them to see.
The players shook their heads, their eyes wide with confusion and fear for their captain.
"Good," said Lauren with a sigh, "Alright, Annette, let's get out of here. We need to get these to the lab and run some tests right away to figure out what did this to Alex."
Lauren gave Mike a quick hug and Annette gave Brooks a kiss before they turned and left. The rest of the Capitals team watched in stunned silence as the two federal agents left the bench. Meanwhile, across the ice, the Penguins circled around like vultures, their eyes gleaming with excitement as they prepared for the puck to drop…
…
Alex Ovechkin woke up, much to his surprise and confusion, in a hospital room. He tried to sit up but his body felt weak and useless. He leaned back on the bed and closed his eyes as he fought a wave of nausea that slammed into him.
"Alex?" asked Lauren as she looked up from where she was typing away at her computer on the other side of the room.
Annette glanced up as well. She was going through an encyclopedia of poisons and other toxins, trying to figure out what was causing all of his symptoms. They had dropped off all the water bottles, including the blue one that Ovechkin always drank from, at the lab and were waiting for the test results to come in. Meanwhile, they opted for doing a little research themselves. The sooner they found out what the toxin was the better for Alex.
"Hey," said Alex in a low, rough voice, "What the hell happened? Did I get hit?"
"You did," said Annette as she and Lauren stood up and walked over to Alex, "After you were hit you collapsed on the ice and started convulsing. The doctors say you had a seizure, but they don't know what caused it. We think…we think there may be some foul play involved."
Alex raised his eyebrows at that, "What? Like…someone drugged me?"
Lauren nodded, "That's what we think. I'm not gonna lie to you Alex…I saw the way the Penguins reacted when you went down…and they were pretty happy about it. Crosby and Malkin high-fived each other."
Alex's eyes took on a dark, dangerous glint as he absorbed what Lauren told him, "They did this to me?"
"We think so," said Annette, "We don't know that for sure, but we have a feeling that they did."
"Assholes," sneered Ovechkin as he glared up at the ceiling, "Why can't they just fight me during a game if they hate me so much? Why drug me? Why try and hurt me?"
"Because they're cowards," said Lauren with disgust, "Cowards who would rather drug you than fight you because they're all pansies."
"And dirty," added Annette, "Aside from Sean Avery, I've never seen a team play dirty hockey the way these guys do."
"Excuse me?" asked the doctor as he slipped into the room, "We have the results from the water bottles that you brought us."
Lauren and Annette instantly moved over closer to the doctor and waited for him to continue.
"I'm afraid your suspicions were correct…it looks like Mr. Ovechkin was drugged. We found a large amount of Valium residue along the bottom and the sides of the blue water bottle. Mr. Ovechkin drank the entire contents of the bottle so he, unfortunately, consumed most of the Valium. The drug is normally used to induce sleep or relieve stress but when consumed in high doses it can cause seizures, nausea and aggressive behavior."
Lauren's eyes hardened with fury as she listened to the doctor's explanation. She glanced over at Annette and noticed that her best friend and partner was equally upset by the news.
"So what does this mean for him?" asked Annette, "Is he going to be okay?"
"Yes, we pumped his stomach so he may feel some discomfort for a few days," said the doctor as he walked over to check on Ovechkin, "He'll need a few days to rest and recuperate from the effects of the drug and get his body into working order again. That hit he sustained seemed to have caused severe bruising on his ribs as well."
Ovechkin rolled his eyes at that one, "I've had worse."
Lauren smirked a little at that as she noted the stubborn look on Ovechkin's face. He hated missing games and knowing that he'd have to miss at least two or three was obviously upsetting him.
"Did we win?" asked Alex as he looked over at Lauren and Annette.
"We left right after you did," said Annette, "But we've been getting the text alerts…"
Annette trailed off as she glanced over at Lauren. They exchanged angered and disappointed looks before Annette continued.
"...Penguins won by five."
Alex cursed loudly and slammed his fist into the bed, "Damn them! They won because they cheated! What the hell?"
"It gets better," said Lauren, seething with anger, "Apparently they knocked Chimera out of the game too…Letang slammed him hard into the boards and Chimera left the ice. Looks like he'll be sitting out for awhile too."
Ovechkin cursed again and started mumbling about his hatred for the Penguins and their "gay captain."
"What's most important right now is that we try to prove that these guys did this to you," said Annette, trying to calm Ovechkin down, "I'm pretty sure they did this but we have no evidence."
"Basically they could have just gotten away with murder," said Lauren, her eyes blazing with rage, "So unless we get a confession out of them or catch them in the act, if they try it again, then we've got nothing."
"Are you two assigned to the case?" asked Alex as he glanced between the two agents.
"I think we just assigned ourselves," said Annette with a slight smirk.
"It's in our jurisdiction anyway," added Lauren, "So yeah, we're assigned to it."
Alex nodded as a smile broke out on his face, "Good…those Penguins don't know what they just got themselves into with you two on the case."
Lauren and Annette couldn't help but laugh a little at that. Just then, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Alex Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Jason Arnott and John Carlson all poured into the room.
"Alex you okay?"
"You still alive man?"
"I swear I'll kill all of them for this!"
"Which one of them was it?"
"What did they put in the water?"
"We should drug their entire team for this!"
Lauren and Annette moved out of the way as the group of infuriated hockey players surrounded Alex's bed and hounded him with questions. Mike and Brooks stayed with their wives and watched as Ovechkin explained what had happened.
"So..what do we do now?" asked Brooks.
"Nothing," replied Annette, "Lauren and I will handle this case…we'll figure it out, don't worry."
"You guys are on the case?" asked Mike as he glanced down at Lauren.
"We assigned ourselves to it, yes," replied Lauren, "How could we not? I don't trust anyone else with this investigation."
Brooks nodded in agreement as he put an arm around Annette's waste, "Did you two get that paperwork for the twins filed?"
Mike nodded, "Yeah, it's all squared away. Social services is looking through it tomorrow and we should have the twins at our place by the end of the day. They want them in a stable home as soon as possible."
"Good," said Brooks as he patted his best friend on the back, "Can't think of a better place for them to be."
Mike gave his best friend a grateful smile, "Thanks, man."
Lauren gave Mike a hug and a kiss before she turned to Annette, "Okay, let's get out of here. We need to prepare for our little interrogation tomorrow."
"Interrogation?" asked Mike.
"I think we should interrogate the Penguin's right away," replied Lauren, "They'll be in town till tomorrow afternoon. I'll get the permission I need by the end of the night and then Annette and I will pay them a little visit at their hotel."
"Be careful…both of you," said Brooks Laich, "I don't trust them as far as I can throw them."
"We will," said Annette as she gave her husband a hug, "We're trained for this stuff…we got this."
Brooks smirked at his wife's confidence and hugged her back. They said their goodbyes as Lauren and Annette squeezed past the group of players still surrounding Ovechkin's hospital bed and slipped out the door…
…