Chapter 4: Viva Las Vegas


Las Vegas, Nevada


Alan stood in the lobby of the MGM Grand Resort Hotel and Casino. It was about 6:00pm, the day after Hammond had visited. He set his bags down and went to the check-in desk.

"Can I help you, sir?" A very pleasant woman asked.

"Yes. I believe I'm registered here. Alan Grant."

The woman typed in his name and few seconds later, she looked up at him with a smile.

"Yes, Mr. Grant. You have a Glamour Suite. Very nice. I'll get your keycard, sir."

"Thank you."

John Hammond had succeeded in talking Alan into going on his little mission. He was asked to meet with the rest of the small team, assembled by Hammond, in Las Vegas. First thing in the morning, Alan and the rest of the team would go to the island, get the required documents from the BioSyn computers, and then come back to the states. It seemed like a simple thing and that's what scared Alan the most.

"It says here that you're a doctor. What kind of doctor, if you don't mind me asking?" The pleasant woman asked.

Alan was about to answer, but then was rudely interrupted by a very familiar voice.

"He's not a real doctor, don't let him fool you. He just digs up dinosaurs."

The woman looked past Alan, and nodded at the man behind him. Alan started to turn around, but before he was even facing the man, he spoke.

"Hello, Ian."

Ian Malcolm smiled. The two men shook hands. Malcolm was impressed that Grant remembered him. They hadn't seen each other in about 10 years, since the incident on Jurassic Park. Not long after they were helicoptered to safety, Ian, Alan and Ellie were all detained in Costa Rica for about a week, answering question after question about the island. When the Costa Rican authorities were finally satisfied, they were all able to finally return back to their lives. Ian lost touch with both Alan and Ellie after that.

"Alan Grant. It's so nice to see you. Hey, you got a Glamour Suite, too. It has a fabulous wet bar. How's Ellie?"

Alan stared at Malcolm and slightly shook his head, as the questions came rambling at him. The last question caught Alan's attention. After all these years, that guy was still after Ellie. Alan didn't even see Ellie anymore, but he was still very protective of her when it came to this guy.

"She's great, Ian. What are you doing here?"

"Hammond invited me."

"John Hammond invited . . . you?"

Malcolm laughed.

"Yes. Yes, he did. Why don't you get your keycard? We'll talk more in the bar. Sound good?"

"Sure, why not."

Alan got his keycard from the pleasant woman and then arranged to have his luggage brought to his room. He suddenly felt like the simple little mission he had signed up for was about to take a turn for the worse. Why would Hammond invite Malcolm? He would definitely have to ask Hammond about that.

Alan and Malcolm went to the lobby bar.

"What do you say, Alan? Wanna switch rooms?"

"What? Why?"

"I smoke now. I have a nonsmoking room. You have a smoking room. I checked. You don't smoke, do you?"

"No."

"Then why do you need a smoking room, my friend? Come on, hand over your keycard. Be a good friend. Come on."

Alan didn't want to talk to Ian, much less argue about rooms. He handed his keycard to Ian. Ian gave him his.

"I have a feeling, by the way you're acting, that I'm going to get billed for a lot of liquor," Alan commented.

"You are probably on the right track there."

"I have to get my bags redirected to my new room. Excuse me," Alan said.

Alan hoped he could take the opportunity to get away from Malcolm. Ian slapped him on the back and laughed very loudly. People in the bar were looking at him strangely. Alan just wanted to go to his room.

"Don't be silly. I'll take care of that later. So, what did Hammond promise you, Alan?"

Alan just stared at Malcolm, without answering.

"Don't tell me . . . money?" Malcolm asked.

Alan just kept staring.

"Yeah, it was money. How much?" Malcolm asked.

"Ian, I'm going to go upstairs to my room now."

"Oh, come on, Alan. How much?"

"Good-bye, Ian."

Alan smiled and left the bar, leaving Malcolm in the bar alone. As he was just about to the lobby again, he heard Malcolm again.

"See ya tomorrow, Dr. Grant. Bright and early."

Alan just shook his head and waved his hand in the air. He didn't stop walking. He didn't even turn around.

Ian smiled and went back to drinking.

Alan decided not to go to his room just yet. He just wanted to get away from Malcolm. He left the lobby and went into the casino. He was just wandering around for a few hours, playing a few slot machines here and there, when he heard a female voice call his name. He looked around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, but he couldn't find the source. Then, he heard his name again.

"Alan?"

Alan turned around and found himself standing directly in front of Ellie Sattler/Degler.

"Ellie?"

Ellie smiled and hugged him.

"Oh, my God, Alan. What are you doing in Vegas?"

"It's a long story."

"I'd love to know anyway," she said.

Alan smiled at her. He hadn't seen her in so long. He had only talked to her on the phone. She looked absolutely beautiful. Her hair was about shoulder length and she was wearing a very elegant red dress.

"Wow, you look great, Ellie."

"Thank you," Ellie said, smiling at him. "Mark and I are here on vacation. Would you believe that John Hammond payed for it?"

Alan nodded.

"Yeah, I would believe that," he said.

Ellie looked at Alan carefully.

"Oh, no. Hammond is the reason you're here, too?"

Alan nodded and then looked down.

"Alan, you accepted another one of Hammond's half-brained ideas?"

"Yeah, I guess I did."

Ellie laughed.

"Well, I guess I sort of did, too. He came to me about a month ago saying he wanted to repay me for my involvement in the Jurassic Park incident. I said no, but he just kept on insisting. He begged me for about a week straight. I finally said okay, so he arranged it to look like a contest that I had won. Mark still has no clue that John even came to see me."

"Wow."

Ellie laughed again.

"Wow? That's it?" She asked.

"Yeah," Alan said.

"Well, what did he offer you?"

"$3,000,000.00"

"Wow!" Ellie exclaimed.

"Exactly. I'd be stupid to turn that down, don't you think?"

"Definitely. God, that man never quits, does he?"

"No, he doesn't," Alan said. "So, did Hammond tell you what was going on?"

"No, not really. In my stupidity, I really just thought he was trying to be nice to me."

Alan smiled.

"Not a chance. Hammond always has some plan up his sleeve."

Alan spent the next half hour explaining to Ellie everything he knew about BioSyn, Hammond, and a third island. After about another half hour of just catching up with each other, Ellie finally had to call it a night.

"Well, Alan, I've got to go meet Mark."

"Where is he, anyway?"

"He's . . . looking into . . . buying . . . a condo nearby. He's talking to someone about it right now. I was bored, so I told him I'd meet up with him later."

Alan carefully watched Ellie as she spoke. It seemed to him that she was making the whole condo thing up. The dramatic pauses in between words grabbed his attention. He didn't let on.

"Okay, Ellie. Well, maybe you'll get lucky and Hammond won't show up at your hotel room door in the morning. Hopefully, he'll leave you out of it."

"Hey, a little espionage could be fun."

Alan smiled at her. She smiled back. He so very badly wanted to just embrace her again, but he felt she would find that a little strange. Instead he started to back up.

Ellie watched him back up. She could tell he was uncomfortable. She took a few steps forward, touched his shoulder, stopping him from moving backwards. She leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

Alan smiled again.

"Okay, Alan. I've really got to get going. Mark is going to be . . . well, furious. I'll talk to you again soon, okay?"

"Okay. Take care, Ellie."

"You too, Alan. Be careful."

"I will."

Alan stood there and watched Ellie turn around and quickly start to move through the casino crowd. He kept on watching her until she disappeared into the crowd. He stood there about a minute more. Then he finally decided to go to his room. Seeing Ellie really made him happy. But something didn't seem quite right with Ellie and Mark.

Alan got into one of the many elevators and started ascending to his room. He couldn't stop thinking about Ellie. The elevator doors opened on his floor, but he just let them shut. He decided to go back down to the lobby.

He walked up to the check-in desk. The same pleasant woman was still there.

"Hello there," he said.

"Well, hello," she replied.

"I was wondering if you could tell me what room a friend of mine is in?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir. We're not allowed to give out personal information on our guests."

Alan frowned.

"It's very important."

"Sir, it is against hotel policy to give out personal information."

"Even if it's important?"

"Sir, I don't want to have to call security."

"Okay, okay. There's certainly no need for that. Thanks for your time."

Alan walked away from the check-in desk and was about to give up, when he thought up another way to get what he wanted.

"Ian," he said to himself, smiling.

He went back to the bar. Malcolm was still there, just as Alan knew he would be. Alan walked in just as Malcolm was hitting on some unsuspecting woman.

"Excuse me, Dr. Malcolm?" Alan asked.

Malcolm looked at him.

"Yeah, that's me," Malcolm said, smiling.

"You have a message at the desk."

"Oh, do I?" Malcolm asked.

Malcolm looked away from Alan and directed his attention toward the woman next to him. He politely excused himself and then followed Alan out.

"What's this about, Alan?" He asked.

"Ian, I need you to do something for me . . . without asking questions."

"Okay."

"Could you go up to the desk and find out where a guest's room is?"

"Why can't you?"

"I tried. She wouldn't tell me a thing. Something about privacy. I figured if anyone could get a room number, it would be you."

"Well, what a nice compliment, Alan. Sure, I'll get the info for you. What's the name?"

"Now this is the part where you can't ask questions."

"Okay. Okay. Name?"

"Ellie Degler."

Malcolm looked at Alan very strangely, but he didn't ask questions. He had promised not to, after all.

"Okay. I'll be right back," Malcolm said. "And you know, I'm going to have to ask a few questions later, right?"

Alan smiled.

"Later. Just get the room number."

Malcolm nodded. Alan watched Malcolm go to the same pleasant woman at the check-in desk. After a little small talk, some laughing, and some flirting, Malcolm was able to get a little piece of paper with a room number on it. Malcolm kissed the woman's hand, smiled at her, and then made his way back to Alan.

"Here you go," Malcolm said, handing Alan the paper.

Alan laughed.

"You truly are amazing. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Look, I'm going back to see that beautiful blonde that was in the bar. I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Okay."

Alan started walking toward the elevators, when Malcolm turned around and shouted at him.

"Remember, Alan. Bright and early. Better get some sleep! No funny business."

Alan waved him off and stepped into the elevator.