Parker and Nichols in Las Vegas
Parker woke to the sharp sound of his phone ringing. “Hey are you up because you have to drop your sister to the airport’ his dad’s voice sounded harsh through the receiver.
Parker glanced at his alarm.
“Oh my God!” he yelled, “it is 11.15, everyone get up now!”
He quickly jumped out of bed, ran into the shower and half an hour later, everyone toppled into the car. “Mum’s right,” groaned Natalia “you are a waste of time, both of you!”
“Shut up!” commented an annoyed Parker, “We will be there on time. It’s not that far.”
Natalia hurried through customs and her brothers waved her off. They watched her plane take off and gasped in horror. On the side of the plane was written, ‘Las Vegas’!
Nichols shook Parker’s shoulder. “Oh my God!” he yelled, ‘we have sent her on the wrong plane!”
“What shall we do?” cried Parker shaking in disbelief.
“Ok, calm down and breathe,” soothed Nichols, “I am sure that the air hostess will have checked her ticket and sent her back”
They waited for a further ten minutes and then with no more patience, marched up to the departure desk. “Excuse me, Ma’am,” asked Nichols politely, “we have sent our sister on the wrong plane. Has she got off yet?”
After three hours Parker and Nichols were climbing the walls in desperation. As they worriedly checked their watch, the air hostess came hurrying over and said, “Your seats are ready. You have been booked and the plane is leaving in ten minutes.”
The boys sighed in relief; they would have to follow their sister hoping she would be waiting at MC Carran International Airport, in Vegas.
The flight was long and tiring and both boys could not rest because of their worries. All they could do was worry about Natalia and wait for the plane to land. The pilot announced, “We have now landed at MC Carran International Airport. I hope you enjoyed your flight.”
For a split second Parker and Nichols smiled at the pilot’s ironic statement. Their humour vanished as they entered the airport and remembered their sister. They caught sight of her exiting the building through a door and ran after her yelling her name. Natalia not hearing the two, jumped into a nearby cab. “Why is she not listening?” yelled Parker, “Why is she getting into a cab? Does she not realise she is in Vegas?”
They hailed the next cab and Nichols shouted “Follow that cab. Ha-ha I always wanted to say that.” As the confused driver stared at them, Parker and Nichols collapsed into laughter.
Natalia arrived at ‘Loews Lake Las Vegas,’ a five star resort. The gobsmacked brothers caught her just as she entered the suite. “Why the hell are you ignoring us? Could you not hear? We have been chasing you for ages!” shouted Nichols.
“I couldn’t hear you!” protested the young girl, “How was I supposed to know you were here. Besides, I am old enough to be on my own. I don’t need you two!”
Parker looked at Nichols and burst out laughing. “YOU don’t need US?” they mocked, “You are still a little girl yet.”
Natalia blushed red but said nothing.
The suite was beautiful. It had a view of an artificial lake and sunny skies. Light reflected on the glass table. Bright orange sofas matched the painting on the wall. The children had never seen anything so fascinating and their faces reflected their happiness.
“Wow,” exclaimed Parker “How could you afford this suite?”
“Erm I borrowed Mum’s credit card” said Natalia quietly.
Parker grinned and pointed out, “You are going to be in so much trouble, once this is over.”
The next hour was spent inquiring about the quickest flight home. Luckily they managed cancelations for the next day.
“Well, while we are here we may as well have some fun tonight ” laughed Parker ” Come on, everyone, we are in LAS VEGAS!”
Nichols gleefully agreed with his brother and just as they were leaving, Nichols ordered Natalia, “Stay here till we get back. We won’t be long.”
“But why can’t I come too?” moaned Natalia
“Because you are too young and we might lose you again. Now stay here and be good” said Parker
They quickly left a sulking Natalia at the hotel and waited for a cab outside. As they stood, the brothers noticed a red-faced angry looking man staring at them. They realised that he was the same man who they had sat next to on the plane.
He spoke harshly, “How dare you steal my briefcase. Who do you think you are?”
As the boys confusedly denied this accusation, the man showed them a bag that read ‘property of Parker Jones.’ The boys realised that, on the plane the bags must have accidently been switched. However they had no time to explain as the man pulled up his sleeves and clenched his fists tightly.
Parker and Nichols screamed and in a panic, ran down a deserted street yelling for their lives. Unfortunately the furious man was stronger and faster than either of them. Catching up to the two, he punched them in the head knocking them out. Parker and Nichols saw stars and then everything went black.
Parker opened his eyes. He was lying on a sticky brownish floor covered in filthy dark stains. A foul odour overpowered Parker’s nose and he wretched repeatedly. The broken door had been gnawed away at by the rats.
“Where do you think we are?” asked Nichols worriedly.
Parker shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I just hope to God that we can get out of here”
They both hesitantly peered out of the door into another room similar to the one they had woken up in. Nichols observed a man standing near a small wooden table. “Hey, that is Mr. Andrew Stevenson.”
The two gasped in horror and scuttled back inside. They knew they would have to escape somehow, so shaking with fright; they tried to slowly peer out again.
Four men were all busy opening a bag, the same that had been switched earlier. The place was smelly and dirty but the men were more interested in the black bag. As they forced it open, a huge pile of fifty dollar notes popped out. “We stole this money good and proper” smirked one of the men. “Perfect plan don’t you think?”
In shock Parker and Nichols tiptoed out of the building and ran as fast as they could to get help. They explained the whole story to a detective and the police frantically stormed the building handcuffing the men.
“Phew I am glad that is over” said Parker in relief.
As he was speaking the detective came up to them and smiled. “Congratulations boys, you have done a good job. It turned out that the men were on the FBI’s most wanted list! As a sign of our gratitude we are awarding you with 10,000 dollars!
The boys whooped shouting ‘Viva Las Vegas!’
