Chapter 9


“Ok,” Jake said from the passenger seat, “let me get this straight.”

Norm, behind the steering wheel, was driving as fast as he could and doing his best to ignore Jake. It did not stop the man from going on, “you’re telling me that I’m in a car, with a guy named Norman, on the way to place called Norman hills. We are going there looking for a guy who lives in a prefab haunted house and happens to be named Bates?”

“Bateman,” Norm replied. “The guys name is Roger Bateman.”

“Small consolation,” Jake replied. Then he tried to turn his attention to something a little more useful, “so this Bates guy is a what, again?”

“He’s Barbara’s ex boyfriend,” Norm blurted out.

Jake just shrugged, “well that’s not exactly a profession, although, I can see where it might call for hazardous duty pay.”

Norm sighed and told Jake after rounding the next corner, “he’s a software guy, Jake. I told you that already. He made a small fortune writing all kinds of computer apps. He retired a few years ago and started living the life of a playboy. As you might can figure, that didn’t go over all too well with Barbara.”

“So,” Jake continued, “he built the haunted hayride after or before they broke up?”

“It was after,” Norm replied. “Some people just thought the guy went off the deep end. After Barbara dumped him, I can kind of understand why.”

Jake mulled that over and then replied, “I would kind of think it might be the other way around.”

“Word going around is,” Norm told him, “Barbara kicked his ass out of a hotel room one night.”

Jake just shrugged, “so? That kind of thing happens all the time.” What did not happen all the time was Barbara having sex in a motel room. Jake fully understood that the woman had some good looks about her but, the personality just ruined all of that. He could just not make himself see her as being anything but a frigid bitch. Jake had kind of figured that she only knew one position and, a motel room? Even at the highest class hotel, Jake could never see it as being good enough for that woman.

Norm then enlightened Jake, “yeah it happens all the time but this particular room happened to be on the second floor.”

Jake pointed to Norm, “now that I could see. So what happened after that, anyway? The guy bump his head and go nuts?”

“They say he landed in the pool,” Norm slowed down as they came up on the gates. Then he brought the car to a complete stop and killed the headlights as the rain, outside, began coming down in buckets. Norm licked his lips and told Jake, “I don’t know how much of that is true. What I do know is this guy was kind of weird, even before that. I only met him a couple of times but, I was pretty damn glad that Barbara kept him away from the station and Shannon.”

It just did not sit right with Jake. He put the whole Barbara sex thing out of his mind. The main reason for that was because it was giving him the shivers. What he did start to wonder about was how a woman like Barbara even wound up with a guy like this in the first place. Jake could not make himself see it.

Norm could see Jake’s thoughts written all over his face. Some of those thoughts looked to be pretty bitter pills to swallow. The way Norm had it figured though, was that they did not have a lot of time here. He decided to get past all of this by pointing out, “the bad part of all that is, this guy was a hundred times better than the one before that. Then, before that, well Shannon’s father was no saint ether.”

Jake was kind of surprised, “I thought he was a Ranger too?”

“Eventually,” Norm replied. “Not when she first started seeing him, well, that’s the story I heard anyway. I was working for the city back then. Look Jake, none of that matters right now.”

“Ok, she goes for bad boys,” Jake told him. “I got that from the top.”

Norm dropped his head, took a deep breath, and then when he looked back at Jake he told him, “what does matter is that this guy, Pendleton, was a shift manager over at J&R labs.”

Jake knew he should know the answer to that but, he motioned for Norm to refresh his memory, so, Norm did just that, “Jennings and Rall is the last notation in Herb Cashton’s private appointment book. Sally also told me she dropped something off for him, at J&R labs, the day before all that mess went down.”

“The guy was a doctor, Norm,” Jake replied, “he was probably always sending stuff to labs.”

“Not like this Jake,” Norm added. “J&R is a big company out here too. They got all kinds of departments and that lab that Cashton used, wasn’t a for doctors kind of place. It was for damn sure not for a plastic surgeon.”

“Ok,” Jake just waved all of that off, “so how does that get us here?”
Norm nodded to the gates just down the road and said, “guess where Roger worked after he left Benthic and before he retired?”

“Oh let me guess,” Jake replied in an annoyed tone, “I get the point Norm. So are we going to go in there and drag Barbara out before she kills this guy for real this time?”

Norm just grunted, “lets just hope it’s Roger that needs saving, Jake. You don’t think all of this stuff going on is just a little too coincidental?”

Unfortunately, Jake completely agreed with the man. He grunted to Norm, “yeah, just a tad.” He pulled his gun out and checked the chamber for a round. When Jake was satisfied he said, “let’s go get her highness.”

They jumped the perimeter wall as far from the gate as they could practically get. Jake just naturally took the lead and Norm did not feel particularly compelled to argue with the former Green Beret, at least, not on such matters as this. Norm was too busy trying to keep the rain out of his face anyway. He was now wishing, seriously wishing, that he had brought the windbreaker with the hood on it.

Jake stopped by a tree and went to one knee. He did not even check to see if Norm did the same and, for that matter, he had never even bothered to see if Norm had kept up. Jake pointed up ahead to the front of the mansion and said, “will you look at that.”

Norm just saw three cars parked there and he quickly recognized the four by four as belonging to the station, “so what Jake? We already knew she was here.”

“Not what I mean,” Jake replied. “The lights weren’t on when we jumped the fence back there. Now they are and they seem all perfect too.”

While Norm did not remember if he had seen any lights back when they climbed over that wall, he was pretty sure that it was far enough away from their current location to obstruct their view. He didn’t get it so Jake explained, “it’s almost like they know we’re coming. If I didn’t know any better I’d say they want us to see those cars as clearly as possible.”

“Maybe,” Norm replied, “they turned on the lights so they could see us easier.”

“No,” Jake told him, “those light are all turned down. They won’t help anybody in the house see out this far. In fact,” Jake rambled, “it would probably ruin their night vision.”

“Ours too,” Norm, always cheerful, pointed out.

“Yeah,” Jake replied, “but only if we use the front door. The second thing I learned about dynamic room entry was, never use the front door.”

“What was the first,” Norm just had to ask.

Jake clicked his teeth and then, regretfully, told the man, “um, that would be to avoid dynamic room entry whenever possible.”
Norm was getting tired of the rain now, “well I don’t think we have that option Jake. I also don’t see another way in.”
That was also something that Jake had noticed. He found it strange too. What kind of house, of this size at least, didn’t have multiple entrances, terraces, and in general a host of ways in and out. People like this usually had servants, almost always had to unload larger shipments of supplies, and would need those kinds of things. What Jake was seeing just did not add up.
“It’s time to practice a little Sun Tzu here,” Jake told his partner. He then looked back with a smile and asked Norm, “you do know who that is, right?”

“As a matter of fact,” Norm replied, “I do. He was that famous Chinese war general that wrote a book.”

“Very good Norm,” Jake told him.

Then Norm just had to add, “I also know the Chinese followed his advice for centuries and lost every war they fought in the process.” That was becoming a feature about Norm that Jake was getting used too. He always looked on the bright and cheery side of things.

Jake decided to spare no more time for words and he moved in for his kill. When he got within range, Jake took cover, and then carefully began systematically eliminating the lights with his pistol. When darkness returned, Norm was seriously impressed. He considered himself proficient with a host of weapons but, Norm realized, there was no way he could ever repeat the kind of shooting he just saw. Jake had not missed a single light.

Norm shrugged to the guy, “I hope you practice more come re-qualification. You’re never going to beat my score.”

Jake raised his middle finger and then used it to point towards the front door. When they reached it, Jake tried the handle first. It moved easy enough so he cracked the door and peeked in. When he was satisfied nothing was on the other side he then knelt down and studied the locking mechanism. Norm just watched the guy and wondered why he was bothering with all of that. Then Jake pulled out a pocket knife and began scratching at the wood finish.
Suddenly, Norm realized something, “hey! That’s my pocket knife!”

“Yeah I know,” Jake told him as he began chipping away the wood, “you gave it to me back at the Foo King, that day, remember?”

“Give you hell,” Norm shot back, “I loaned it and then you went and stole the damn thing.”

“You also lied to me that day,” Jake replied, “if I remember correctly.”

Norm shrugged it off, “ok, point made. I still want my damn knife back.”

Jake stood up and then pointed down at the lock, “and this is no wooden door. It’s got a wood panel cover but, the damn thing looks better than some military grade blast doors I’ve seen.” Jake then pointed upwards, “and look at those hinges. Those things are motorized and, from the looks of it…”

Norm could now see what he was talking about, “that looks kind of a like a high pressure, industrial grade, pneumatic pump system. Even if you could by pass the locks you’d never get that thing open unless you could siphon all the gas out of the shocks.”

“It’s not kind of like,” Jake told him, “that’s exactly what it is. That’s the same hardware they use on starships for emergency doors.”

“So how do we disable it,” Norm asked.

Jake was not so happy with the answer, “we can’t. It’s built right into the wall and I left my detonator caps in my other coat.”

Norm suggested, “what about blocking the door open with something?”

“It’s worth a try but,” Jake told him, “I’m afraid the only way we can turn this off is from,” his eyes motioned to the crack in the door, “you know, in there.”

“You just keep making my day Jake,” Norm told him as he followed the guy inside.