A NOVEL ─ THE ADVENTURES OF KEVIN KRAMER IN COMMUNIST EUROPE ─ A Novel about the End Times ─ Chapter 7 ─ "Maritza Is in Trouble"

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The Adventures of Kevin Krämer in Communist Europe

- The Escape from Communist Europe -

 (A Novel about the End Times)

By: Justin Brown (a pen name)

Recommended reading for ages 14 and older.

This is a novel for teens and adults.

This novel contains some violence (such as gunshots and fights); intense chase scenes;

clean romantic elements (i.e. clean conversations between a guy and his girlfriend);

 and themes appropriate for teenagers and adults.

You will not find any profanity, immorality, or gore in this novel.

It is written to edify the reader, and not to provoke sinful thoughts.

This story is free to be copied, printed, and distributed, but it must remain unaltered.

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Synopsis

Europe has been invaded, the superpower across the sea is no more, and the country of "Baltania" is controlling Europe through communistic puppet governments. Under the oppressive cloud of communism, a small group of underground Christians faces a powerful crime organization bent on their capture and destruction. 

(The entire story is in a complete PDF file
which can be read at this link on Google Drive.
I make no money from this story. It is entirely free.)

Under this heavy, oppressive cloak, Kevin Kramer, a 30-year-old, and Maritza, his attractive, 27-year-old girlfriend, must decide who they will serve as they fall in love with each other, start a romantic relationship, and try to evade the unrelenting and dangerous members of a criminal organization, which seeks to kidnap underground Christians to sell to the secret police.

Together with some friends, Kevin and Maritza must do their best to avoid being captured as they learn to trust God and follow His guiding hand in these last days just before the rise of the Antichrist. This fast-paced story is designed to be fascinating. But, don't just take our word for it... 

[Note: Baltania is a fictional country within the Eurasian landmass. At one time, it had a communistic past. During a third world war, communism revived in this country as its armies conquered Europe. Since we do not want to point fingers at any particular country, we will not name this country or coalition of countries.]

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Chapter 7

"Maritza Is in Trouble"

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Kühnburg, Germany

As Maritza walked down the street, she didn’t bother glancing in shop windows or in the rear windows of parked cars, like others might have, to see if anyone were following her, for she was thinking about the kind, brown-haired guy who seemed to be very attracted to her. And, she had to admit to herself, ever since she had met him with the group in the forest, she had thought of him as being ‘cute’ and someone she could trust.

But, she didn’t want to fully commit herself to him because she wasn’t entirely sure if he really was the right guy for her. ‘After all, he isn’t that remarkable,’ a thought spoke into her mind. ‘He’s not particularly hansom or strong. And, he is maybe only a centimeter taller than me,’ another thought entered into her mind. ‘If I were wearing high-heels and standing beside him, he would appear shorter than me. And, God wouldn’t give me a husband who was average looking and somewhat short for a guy, would He?’ another thought said.

(Click on this link to read brief descriptions
about some of the characters from this novel.)

As the 27-year-old, blond-haired girl continued walking and thinking about Kevin and about what she would like to do once she had arrived back at her apartment, the man following her drew out his smartphone and carefully began snapping pictures of her as discretely as he could. He had noticed that she was one of the few women he had seen in recent years to be wearing modest clothing. Something was different about this attractive girl, and it made him wonder if she were a non-conformist Christian. He had noticed that non-conformist Christian women almost always dressed very modestly.

Maritza glanced at the rear window of a parked SUV. Two minutes had passed since she had said goodbye to Kevin. In the nearly-vertical window, she saw the reflection of a guy wearing sunglasses; a leather, wide-brimmed hat; and a long, brown goatee. He was following her, holding up a smartphone, and pointing it in her direction. He briefly held it as if he were trying to snap a picture, and then, he lowered it to appear as if he were just texting.

Feeling a little nervous, she quickened her pace, but the man seemed to notice, for she saw his reflection in the wide window of a nearby shop. He was also walking faster, and his phone was now in his pocket.

Her heart was beating faster and she began to wonder what reason the stranger had for following her. ‘Is he going try to rob me, kidnap me for a ransom, or worse? Where are the police?’ Maritza thought as she scanned the clusters of people walking along the sidewalk.

Far down the street, she saw a couple male police officers walking along, but their backs were turned to her, and they were out of earshot. She thought about praying just before a hand suddenly grabbed her around the arm and someone shoved her into an alley, to the right.

As he held her arm, he said in a gruff voice, “Don’t make a sound, woman.”

She thought of screaming, but she kept her mouth shut, fearing that the attacker might kill her right there if she were to make a loud noise.

The person who had grabbed her was now holding both of her arms and was pushing her toward the back of the alley, and toward a door in a brick building, which was opened ajar. She tried desperately to escape his grip, but his hands and arm muscles were quite strong. He pulled her hands behind her back and snapped metal handcuffs around her wrists.

She was thinking about screaming when a gag was placed over her mouth and tied tightly. The man shoved her through the door and followed her into a small, musty room, which was littered with crumpled pieces of paper, folded cardboard boxes, and bubble wrap. A dingy, wooden desk ran along one wall, and resting beside it stood two metal filing cabinets. In the glare of some LED ceiling lights, Maritza noticed that a door in the back of the small room was left open and she saw through it a white-linoleum-floored hallway.

Maritza wheeled around to see her captor, and gasped. Even though he was still wearing the leather hat and sunglasses, she recognized him. He was standing too close to her for her not to recognize him. It was Dietmar, Kevin’s alleged friend who had kidnapped her. ‘He must have been following me all this time,’ she thought, with concern and fear in her heart.

Dietmar shut the door to the alley and locked it with a key. A clicking sound indicated that Maritza was now sealed off from the outside world. Dietmar then walked over to the door at the far end of the room and passed through it, shutting it behind him. Maritza was now ‘alone’ in the room, but she knew God was still with her, so she knew she was not truly alone.

Realizing what she must do, Maritza began giving her fears to God, saying silently, ‘Lord God, Abba Father, I’m very scared right now, but I choose to trust you to get me out of this mess I’m in. I realize now that I didn’t listen to your prompting after I said goodbye to Kevin. You were leading me to go back across the park, but I didn’t listen to you. I’m sorry for that and I choose to give you all my fears. …” She named some of her specific fears. Then, she prayed silently: “Father God, I give these fears to you and I trust you to deliver me from this situation and to show me what to do. In Jesus Christ’s name, amen.’

The door in the far end of the room swung open and Dietmar appeared, wearing a diabolic smile on his face. His fake goatee was gone along with his leather hat and sunglasses. Another man followed him. The man behind him was muscular, ruggedly handsome, and had blond hair and blue eyes, and wore a crimson T-shirt, dark-grey trousers, and shiny jackboots. His T-shirt had on its undulating surface an image of a dragon with red, piercing eyes, blowing fire from its mouth. He appeared, to Maritza, to be in his late forties.

The blond-haired man told a perverted joke to Dietmar, and the two men laughed raucously.

Dietmar, glancing at Maritza, spoke about her with filthy words: the words of an evil man. Then, he quickly approached her and removed the gag from her mouth, but he left the handcuffs around her wrists. He walked back toward the door he had just passed through, and it appeared he was checking it to see that it was fully shut.

Moments earlier, as the men had entered the room together, Maritza had noticed a clicking sound come from the door leading to the alley. And, almost imperceptibly, the door had moved slightly inward, just two centimeters from its closed position. At the same time, her handcuffs had suddenly, miraculously loosened so that her wrists could easily slip out of them. The men hadn’t noticed the clicking sounds since they had been talking loudly. ‘God must be providing me a way of escape,’ she thought hopefully.

“So, Maritza, are you an underground Christian?” Dietmar asked as he approached her again.

The blond-haired man came out from behind Dietmar, nudged him aside, and slowly approached Maritza, like a lion, preparing to pounce. He drew a long knife from a sheath on his belt. Its sharp blade glistened in the harsh glow of the LED lights shining from the ceiling. She didn’t want that wicked man to get near her. Slow step by slow step, he walked toward her with the sparkling knife outstretched. There was not much time left before he would reach her. ‘I have to run. But, when?’ she thought. ‘They could outrun me unless …’

“Run!” a voice spoke to Maritza’s spirit. She hesitated, not knowing if she should listen to that voice.

“You are going to tell us your religion if you want to see another day, or I’ll kill you right here,” the blond-haired man said as he eyed her with an evil stare. His hands were now just two meters from her. 

“Run!” the same voice spoke to her spirit louder. Maritza didn’t wait another moment.

Just as the blond-haired man was taking another slow step forward, Maritza darted toward the door leading to the alley. She slipped out of the handcuffs and let them fall to the ground.

“She’s getting away! We must stop her!” Dietmar shouted.

And, the men began to give chase. Feeling her heart pounding in her chest, Maritza grabbed the brass doorknob, yanked the door wide open, and didn’t bother to slam it behind her. She was now in the alley. Breathing in the fresh air, Maritza realized that her only chance of escaping the evil bounty hunters was by running at full speed. That thought took a fraction of a second to zip through her mind. The second her feet touched the alley pavement, Maritza began running down the asphalt as fast as she could.

Two seconds after she darted off, the wicked, blond-haired man passed through the door and charged after her like a fuming bull. He was not far behind her with his long knife in hand. Since he desperately didn’t want her to reach the street, he ran as fast as he could, and his shiny jackboots pounded the pavement. His athletic body was very fast since he trained himself on a daily basis, in order to stay in top shape.

Running like a cheetah, he soon closed the distance to one meter. A second later, the distance from his razor-sharp knife to Maritza was half a meter. But then, she suddenly got a boost of energy that surprised both her and her enemy. Maritza shot forward and the gap between them was now two meters. Then, it was two and a half, and then three meters.

(Some conversions between
metric units and English-system units)
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She sped out of the alley and onto the sidewalk of a busy street. She slowed to keep herself from going into the street and put on the “breaks.” Maritza knew that the muscular man would still pursue her, but less fast since he was now in public, so she kept jogging. She reached an intersection and glanced over her shoulder. She could see the blond man following her at a jogging pace. His knife was gone from view, but she knew he would soon reach her, so she darted across the intersection once the coast was clear. Ten seconds later, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that he was partway through the intersection, moving at a walking speed.

As Maritza jogged, she waited twenty seconds before looking again over her shoulder. The tall, muscular man was walking much slower. Two police officers had just emerged from a shop just a few meters from him. He was a considerable distance behind her, but she continued jogging quickly.

After running through two more blocks, she looked back over her shoulder. She couldn’t see the blond man. About three dozen people were walking about on the sidewalk within the same block she was running through. ‘He might have slipped into a car or an alley,’ she thought. Jogging slightly slower, Maritza passed through one intersection, and then another.

After going through fifteen intersections, on a zigzagging course through the town, Maritza slowed to a walk and began thinking about where she was. Her body was feeling tired and somewhat exhausted. Without God’s help, she knew she would have no power to run from someone chasing her now.

The adrenaline and strength that God had miraculously given her had delivered her from the wicked men, but she was now in an area of town that was a significant number of blocks away from her apartment. It also was an area Maritza knew was often occupied by criminal gangs. Normally, it would be unsafe for a young woman to be in that neighborhood without someone to escort her. But, she chose to trust that God would protect her and give her strength. She also wanted to get back to her apartment as soon as possible, rest, and spend more time with Abba God, who was truly her best Friend and Abba Father.

A silver Delta Ion* sedan suddenly pulled into a parallel parking space along the side of the street just a few meters ahead of her. A bicycle was attached to the car roof in a bicycle holder, which seemed kind of odd to her. The front door popped open and a man emerged. He had brown hair and was of average height, which gave her some relief. Then, he turned toward her, and Maritza let out a great sigh of relief, followed by a joyful gasp. It was Kevin. How glad she was to see him, her knight in shining armor. Her attitude had greatly changed toward him after having gone through her ordeal. She knew that Kevin wasn’t as strong as the blond man, but she suspected that he would put up a fight to protect her. [* This car is fictional.]

She ran up to Kevin and felt like embracing him, but refrained herself. Instead, she stood before him with a big smile on her face and a look of relief in her eyes. He was just as hansom in her eyes as a knight in a medieval tale. His nervous habits, which had kind of amused her, didn’t matter to her anymore.

“Kevin, you don’t know how happy I am to see you now,” she said with enthusiasm he hadn’t seen on her face.

“We should get in the car and talk there,” Kevin said, glancing up and down the street before turning back to Maritza.

Once both were inside, he pressed his finger on a biometric sensor located where a key would have gone. Then, a digital screen in the dashboard quickly turned on. It displayed a number of options in a list, and a rich, soothing masculine voice said, “This is your autonomous car speaking. Where to next?”

“Take me to the location I point to,” Kevin said.

A map of the town immediately appeared on the dashboard screen. He quickly entered the address for Rolf and Svenja’s apartment, and pressed an “enter” button on the screen. The computerized voice said, “Leaving promptly. Estimated time of arrival: 7 minutes.”

The car drove away from the curb and seamlessly melted into the flow of traffic.

“I am so glad to see you,” Maritza said from the front passenger seat, beaming. “But, I wonder … Why did you get a car and drive over here?”

“I just had a strong feeling I should,” he said.

Kevin rested back in his chair and let the car drive itself. Then, he turned to face Maritza and smiled at her, wondering why she was so glad to see him. He knew he couldn’t ask her if the topic was sensitive enough, for the microphones in the car would pick up every word and feed it into the information-gobbling supercomputers. He thought to himself, ‘Why is she so happy to see me? When I last saw her, she seemed ready to leave and not very willing to hang out with me anymore. But even then, she seemed kind of interested in me.’

They made small talk as the Delta Ion drove itself expertly through the city streets and finally pulled into the parking lot of Rolf’s apartment building. Once the silver sedan had come to a stop in a parking space, the computerized voice said, “You have arrived at your destination. Is this you final destination for today?”

“Yes, but I need to get my bicycle first,” Kevin said as he reached back to the rear seat and grabbed his backpack.

“Understood,” the computer said. “And, your trip payment bill will be forwarded to your online account.”

“Thank you,” Kevin said as he reached for the door handle.

He and Maritza stood up and stretched briefly as they emerged from the car. Seeing each other stretch at the same time, brought a smile to Kevin’s face. He said, “You’d think we were twins the way we did this so synchronized.”

Maritza smiled and chuckled slightly as she said, “Twins with different parents.”

But, Kevin could tell something was somewhat troubling to her. He could see it in her eyes and he wanted to ask her about it. Knowing that the car could likely overhear him, Kevin turned toward the car roof and reached up toward his bicycle, which was fastened to the roof in a bike holder. Once he had detached the ‘cycle and had set it gently on the ground, he wheeled it away from the silver car.

When enough space separated the autonomous car from the humans, its doors shut automatically and it shifted into reverse. It pulled out of the parking lot, completely empty of people, and the robot car entered the late-morning traffic.

When the Delta Ion was gone, Kevin turned to Maritza and said, “I took us here because I thought you’d like to visit with my sister and her husband more. But, if you want to go somewhere else, that would be fine.”

Maritza turned away from Kevin to think for half a minute. Then, she said, “I was thinking about going to my apartment, but I can stay and visit for a while. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through since I said goodbye to you at the park.”

“Tell me when we’ve reached the apartment. I want to hear,” Kevin said.

The two friends entered the apartment building and passed down the first floor hallway. After knocking at a certain door and waiting a minute for it to open, they entered Rolf and Svenja’s apartment.

“It’s good to see you again, Maritza,” Svenja said as Maritza entered. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine right now, but you wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through. It will sound far-fetched,” Maritza said. “Thanks to your brother and, most of all, God, I am here without any harm done.”

“Maritza, you need to tell me about it once we’re in the living room,” Svenja said.

When Maritza was out of hearing, Svenja whispered to her brother, saying, “It looks like you’ve found a girlfriend.”

Kevin blushed a little and said, “Yes, but it seems like God had us meet each other.”

Once the group was in the living room, Maritza began telling Kevin and his sister the terrifying events she went through, starting with leaving the park and ending where Kevin picked her up in the self-driving car. Throughout the description of her escape, Svenja and Kevin were fixated on Maritza’s story. Soon after she had finished her account, Kevin thought he heard a slight knock on the front door.

“You poor girl,” Svenja said. “Those evil men need to be put in their place.”

“But,” Maritza said, “I should have listened to God’s Spirit speak to me to leave back through the park on a different route to my apartment.”

The knocking continued, and then stopped, but Kevin only barely noticed it. He didn’t know if it was someone upstairs knocking on something or not.

“Maritza,” Kevin said, “what you said about Dietmar is shocking. You are sure it was he who had grabbed you and shoved you into the alley?”

“I’m sure, Kevin,” she said, without blinking.

Kevin felt like he wanted to clean Dietmar’s clock, so to speak, but he realized that holding onto bitterness would only harm him spiritually. So, Kevin silently began giving his hatred for his former friend into God’s hands. ‘Father, I choose to forgive Dietmar and the blond man who went after Maritza. But, I thank you for protecting her and causing her to escape before they could truly harm her.’

The knocking continued, and Svenja turned toward the hallway. “It sounds like someone is knocking. I better answer the door,” Svenja said before she left the living room and strode briskly down the hallway.

When she opened the door, Reiner appeared. “Hello, Mrs. Berger, please read this,” Reiner said as he handed her an envelope.

“Do come inside,” Svenja said. “I have my brother and Maritza here.”

“Okay. But, I will need to be brief,” Reiner said.

Svenja led him down the hall and into the small living room. He greeted each of them by name and then said, “Folks, I have a message here in this envelope you should read. But, I’ll just tell you what it says. I was seeking God yesterday and He told me that you, Svenja, and your husband, Rolf, and I need to leave this apartment complex and head toward a large safe house in the Kühnburg forest. I know of a man who would be willing for us to stay with him. And, today I got a slip of paper from Konrad telling me the very thing that God told me. God had told him the same as He told me. So, I encourage you and Rolf to seek God about this matter and do what God shows you.”

“What about Maritza and me? Should we go to the safe house too?” Kevin said.

Maritza looked at Kevin briefly with a concerned look on her face.

“If God is showing you to do that, then do it,” Reiner said as he readjusted his thick-framed glasses. “The safe house also has a guest house which will fit two families on its two stories.” 

“Maritza had just told us about how two evil men had kidnapped her and had locked her into a room near an alley,” Svenja said. “One was following her down a street and had shoved her into the alley. The other, a bond man, was threatening to kill her with a knife if she refused to talk to him. The blond man had asked her if she was an underground Christian.”

“Wow,” Reiner said. “That is a sign the enemy doesn’t like what we’re doing. We know that the devil is out to destroy men and women’s spiritual lives; steal the truth from us and give us lies instead; and bring death, if he can. Jesus spoke of this in John 10:10. Would you like to hear the verse?”

“Certainly,” Svenja said.

Reiner cleared his throat and said, “In John 10:10, Jesus said, '[10] The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’”

“So, God wants us to have life and have it abundantly,” Kevin said. “Praise God for that. I want to receive the fullness of this life Jesus spoke of.”

“Amen,” Reiner said.

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A Basement Office in Kühnburg

“I must find that blond girl and her friends,” the tall, muscular, blond-haired man said as he paced around his dingy office in the basement of a rented, brick building. “She has to be a non-conformist Christian. Once we have captured her, we will hand her and her friends over to the police, and get a hefty reward. And, if they give us any trouble, we will make them suffer.”

Dietmar was sitting in a metal, folding chair texting on his smartphone. The office around him smelled of mildew. LED lights in a metal ceiling fixture cast shadows from his chair in their harsh, white glare. Three meters from him, two metal filing cabinets rested in one corner of the room up against a white wall, which had a bulletin board hanging from it filled with papers and memos.

Dietmar looked up at the proud, evil, athletic man and said, “Wolf, I don’t think she will be that easy to find. If she’s an underground Christian, she will be very wary about any tricks we try in order to locate and ensnare her.”

“You …!” Wolf shouted at Dietmar and called him some filthy swearwords as he glared angrily at the younger man. “I’m not asking for your advice! You report to me, and I report to Claw. You saw her with a boy, and you told me he was your friend named Kevin. You need to set a trap for Kevin. He will lead us to her. If he’s a Christian, he will be more money in our wallets when we turn him in. If he isn’t a Christian, then, he will still be an asset in locating this blond girl.”

In the middle of the room sat a wooden desk which had atop it a stack of papers, some pens, and a calculator. Coffee stains appeared on the desk and on the linoleum floor directly below it. Unlike most offices, no computer sat on the desk and no computing devices could be found in the room, except for Dietmar’s cellphone.

Wolf slowly approached the desk and took a seat behind it. He pulled out a drawer and withdrew a black, plastic case. Setting it on the desk, he unclasped it and flipped its lid open. Then, he drew out a black, semi-automatic pistol and screwed a long silencer onto the barrel.

He placed the pistol on the desk in front of the case and motioned toward it with an open palm. “Dietmar, take this pistol and get your friend to talk. If he doesn’t tell you how to find his girlfriend, draw this out and convince him to tell you her name, her location, and her contact information. He will talk to you once he sees this silent but deadly animal.”

“What if he doesn’t tell me, Wolf?” Dietmar said.

“Then, shoot him,” Wolf said, grinning wickedly.

“What if the police find me?” Dietmar said.

“You …, if you do it properly, the police will never know,” Wolf said harshly, with some vile expletives, as he slammed a clenched fist onto the desk.

“Wolf, I’ve never killed anyone before,” Dietmar said. “I’m not sure if I could pull the trigger on that gun when it’s pointing at someone.”

Then, the blond, muscular man stood from his seat. He raised his chin slightly and said, “If you won’t use this weapon, then I will. And, you’ll be demoted to being my janitor.”

“I’ll take the gun, then,” Dietmar said, firmly.

“Good,” Wolf said. “I’ll teach you how kill someone, hide the evidence, and forget about it. We’ll go to a secret training facility tomorrow.”

“I’m ready to learn,” Dietmar said. “I’m no wimp.”

“You’ll be a fine assassin one day soon, thanks to me,” Wolf said, gloatingly.

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CLICK HERE FOR CHAPTER 8.

AN EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 8 ("The Python Strikes"):

'... Maritza let out a stifled scream as she watched the man start to draw out the gun. At that moment, Kevin felt a surge of adrenaline flow through his veins and a surge of something else with it. He suddenly ...'

➠➠ ➠ If you would like to know Abba God the Father and Jesus Christ (God the Son), and be saved from sin, click here to read more.

[See Job 5:15 — “[15] But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.” (Note: He in this verse refers to God.)]