Free The Redeemed by Jonas Saul Page B

of the building.
     
    He backed a van up to the dock in near darkness as he didn’t want to light the place up. It was after three in the morning with virtually no traffic out front, but still, risks weren’t necessary.
     
    Mike couldn’t think of a time when he was happier. Except when he slaughtered his parents on their vacation. That was a good day. As the knife sliced through their throats and his parents’ heads lopped off, he enjoyed branding their dead skin with upside-down crosses. Let the investigators run around looking for a crazed religious killer.
     
    His parents had been rich. After their death, all their assets were liquidated and the money was put into a trust fund. But now the fund was almost empty, the money running out. The fact that the church was a business, a rich business, wasn’t lost on him. The ability to funnel money from the church undetected had been easy until recently. Several priests had set a meeting to discuss missing funds and he wasn’t invited.
     
    It inspired him to murder those Catholic priests for all the hatred and death the Catholics had spread around the world with their religious wars. Sure, Islam had their Jihad, and governments fought wars over oil, but the Catholics had killed more people worldwide than any other religion and yet it was the largest religion on Earth, followed by more people than any other.
     
    “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”
     
    Mike got out of the van, leaving the driver’s side door ajar, walked around to the back and opened the doors. He carefully rolled the dolly to the edge of the loading dock and set the cage just inside the van. Once the cage was unstrapped, he pulled the dolly back. After a small push with his shoulder, he was able to shut and secure the back doors, the python safely inside.
     
    He stepped back and admired the building they were supposed to be turning into a non-profit site for the homeless.
     
    Not anymore. Not after they find two dead bodies inside.
     
    He ran around to the front of the van and grabbed the cross with Father George’s name engraved in it. With his oxygen mask in hand, he headed back inside.
     
    From the small viewing window, Father George hadn’t moved. Mike donned the mask, made sure he was getting ample oxygen and unlocked the door. An audible whoosh accompanied the breaking of the seal.
     
    Getting caught with one of his kills would stop him from succeeding in his mission, and he didn’t want to upset the Great One, so he rushed over to Father George, set the cross on his chest without nailing it in.
     
    Mike backed out into the hall, slammed the door and stared up at the ceiling. In the room above him, his beloved Evelyn lay dead.
     
    “You weren’t supposed to go yet,” he mumbled inside the mask.
     
    When he was clear of the doorway, he tore off the mask and tossed it onto the floor. Then took a deep breath to repeat the words unfettered by the mask and instantly came down with a hacking cough. Some of the toxic gas must have filtered out further than he thought.
     
    He leaned on the wall and coughed harder, trying to clear his lungs. On each intake, more gas entered him. Before it could overcome him, he started down the hall. At the end, he turned right and headed to the van, coughing as he went. By the time he got to the back door, it had abated some.
     
    Once outside, he stopped at the sight of three people walking by on the street.
     
    He dropped and hid behind the van. They were too far away for him to hear what they were saying. He coughed under his breath, forcing his mouth to stay closed. After a moment, he crawled to the corner of the van and peeked around toward the street.
     
    The three people had stopped. They stood quietly just outside the direct glow of a streetlight, their faces in darkness.
     
    Can they see me?
     
    They probably heard the back door open and close, but he didn’t think they could hear his coughing. Which meant they were waiting for someone