Free Crucified by Adelle Laudan

the police. We have you surrounded. Step away
from the vehicle with your hands in the air.”
    Taylor slid
along the wall to the corner of the building.
    Jerry Cox threw
back his head and laughed hysterically, waving his hands above his
head. “Our Father in heaven is watching! Jezebel must pay for her
sins.”
    Uniformed
officers swarmed in on Jerry Cox.
    The cold shaft
of a gun pressed against his temple. “Hands behind your back,” an
officer shouted.
    Taylor knew how
to pick his battles. This was definitely a battle not worth
fighting. He moved his hands behind his back and stepped away from
the wall. The officer took three steps back, but kept his gun
trained on him. He ushered Taylor down the side of the
building.
    “ Jezebel is waiting for you, Scooter Trash.” Jerry’s face
twisted into a distorted grin. “Why don’t you officers dispose of
the sinners? Put them where they belong… in the trash .” He started to laugh again,
echoing the madness in his bulging eyes.
    “ That’s enough. Get him in the cruiser.” Agent Mann guided
Dianne towards them.
    “ Where is she?” She bolted toward Jerry, and grabbed the collar
of his jacket. “Where’s Casey, you crazy son of a
bitch.”
    Jerry fell
quiet and glared at Dianne before he spat in her face.
    Her knee came
up and pummeled into his balls. He doubled over, writhing in pain
for only a brief moment before tilting his face toward Taylor.
    “ She probably had you, too…didn’t she, Scooter Trash? I’ve seen
that Jezebel hanging around your shop.” His face twisted in a
medley of pain and insanity. “Bet you liked it, too…didn’t you,
Scooter Trash?”
    “ Okay, let’s go. Into the wagon, asshole.” Seth signaled for
two officers to come take him away. “Spread out! Find the girl,
now!” His command filtered through the officers, setting them in
motion.
    Jerry Cox’s
laughter hung in the air long after the cruiser drove out of
sight.
    “ I think she’s in there.” Taylor pointed with his cuffed hands
to the stone building.
    “ Open that door,” Dianne shouted as she ran toward the
building.
    An officer on
either end of the iron post lifted it up and placed it on the
ground. They swung the big door back, assaulted by the putrid
stench. It took a few seconds before he saw her—in exactly the same
position in the last photo.
    Are we too
late?
    One of the
officers turned away and doubled over to puke. The girl hanging
from the cross was a skeleton of the Casey who broke out in a fit
of giggles if he so much as looked her way.
    Dianne jogged
over to the clothesline and snatched the overturned bucket. She ran
over to Casey and turned it over by her side. She stepped up and
pressed her ear against the girl’s blood caked chest. She jerked
back, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.
    “ She’s alive! Get an ambulance here stat!” She stepped back.
“For God’s sake, somebody get her down, and get me a blanket.” Her
eyes flashed with anger. “Move!”
    Two officers
untied the ropes that bound her hands and feet to the cross. A
trickle of fresh blood oozed from her wrists and ankles. Dianne
rushed over and wrapped her bruised and battered body in a blanket.
Casey crumpled against her.
    “ Find something to stop the bleeding.”
    The officer,
who brought the blanket, took off his shirt and tore it into
strips. He gingerly wrapped Casey’s raw wounds while Dianne cooed
into her tangled mass of hair.
    She thanked the
officer with her eyes and looked down into Casey’s motionless face.
A single tear rolled down her cheek to reveal the paleness of her
face.
    “ Hush now, Casey.” She spoke barely above a whisper. “It’s all
over now…”
    Taylor stood
with a team of officers as Casey was lifted onto the stretcher and
into the ambulance.
    A palpable
sadness filled the air as the ambulance drove out of sight, lights
flashing and siren blaring, being led by two cruisers.
    Dianne leaned
against her partner, the side of her face covered in