A NOVEL ─ THE ADVENTURES OF KEVIN KRAMER IN COMMUNIST EUROPE ─ A Novel about the End Times ─ Chapter 5 ─ "The Secret Meeting"

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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. 

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 land mass. At one time, it had a communistic past. During a third world war, communism revived in this country as it's 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 5

"The Secret Meeting"

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A Country Road in the Kühnburg Forest

“This is a nice day for a picnic,” Rolf said, with his deep voice, from the driver’s seat of a rented, dark-blue Delta Solarstorm,* a battery-powered, electric car. [* Note: This is a fictional car.]

“I just hope that we will be able to find our mysterious friend,” Svenja said from the front passenger seat.

“I do too,” Kevin said from the back seat near the left window.

They were driving down a remote stretch of a country road that wound through the densely-wooded Kühnburg forest. Tall spruce and ponderosa pine trees on either side of the road rose up majestically like pillars. Through their fans of green needles, dappled sunlight pierced through to the road and forest floor below. And, fluffy clouds sailed through the blue sky, high above, like ships at sea.

“So, I wonder how your friends feel about you not joining them for VR games?” Svenja said, glancing back at her brother who sat behind Rolf’s seat.

“They were unhappy about it, but I actually went to Dietmar’s apartment the other day,” Kevin said.

“How did it go?” his sister asked.

“It was okay, I guess.”

“What do you mean?” Svenja said, turning around in her seat to face him.

“Well, I realize that my interests are changing,” Kevin said. “I used to like playing video games more, but anymore now, I feel a desire to seek God and talk with Him. And, I just felt a lack of peace when I saw that Dietmar’s character or avatar was a wizard. We played for a while, but then he asked me if I would like to try his character’s magic wand. But, I remember reading a verse in the Bible which says that all forms of sorcery and witchcraft are very unpleasing to God. He is strongly against those practices.”

Svenja turned back to look out the front window, and drew a strand of hair away from her face. What her brother was telling her brought a little conviction to her heart, for she had felt some guilt at digitally casting spells while playing a sorcerer in an online, medieval, social-media game. But, she didn’t want to admit that video games with sorcery were bad, for she liked to interact with her friends by way of that game.

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Several more miles passed before Rolf slowed the car and turned the blue Delta Solarstorm sedan onto a dirt road, to the right. He drove down the winding dirt road past rotting logs and pillar-like trees for 305 meters before he came to a solid, metal gate which spanned the width of the road. 

He drove off to the side of the road, parked, and shut the engine off. The doors opened and all three occupants climbed out of the Delta Solarstorm. Kevin was glad to have fresh air and the freedom to stand up straight. He stretched his arms and yawned. Once he finished, he caught sight of someone or something in the bushes a little over 9 meters from him. His heartbeat quickened as he tried to determine what he was seeing. ‘Could this be a member of the secret police?’ 

Before he could decide whether he should run or just stay put, the bushes began to move and a man stood up. He was dressed from head to foot in camouflage and was wearing a camouflage backpack. He had green, brown, and black face paint over his face and neck to make it even harder to see him. Slowly, he moved forward and then relaxed as he stepped onto the dirt road.

Rolf, somewhat startled, quickly overcame his fear and approached the man. Kevin relaxed slightly, feeling that the man was probably trustworthy.

“I trust that you are Rolf,” the man said, looking up at the clean-shaven face of the curly-haired giant. “And, this is your brother-in-law, and that is your wife? Correct?”

“That is correct,” Rolf said, looking down at the man from his massive 2.44-meter height.* [Or, 8 feet.]

The giant, curly-haired man was intimidating for anyone to see up close, but the camouflaged stranger quickly regained his composure and a grin broke out on his face. “I’m glad to see you in person,” he said. “I’ve heard that you are tall, but I didn’t imagine you being proportional to your height. Your muscles are huge. I almost feel like a kid next to you.”

Kevin guessed that the stranger was about 1.9 meters tall.* He had a dimpled chin, brown, bushy hair, and sideburns, and appeared to be of African ancestry. [* Or, about 6 ft., 3 in.]

Rolf laughed with his deep, rich voice. Then, he said, “I often hear people asking me what the weather is like up there, but I’ve never heard anyone say they felt like a kid next to me.”

The stranger grinned as he said, “My name is Konrad Adebayo. My father and mother moved over to Germany from Nigeria back when I was a just little boy. They returned to Nigeria after my twenty-third birthday, but I remained in Germany and worked as a manager at an automobile assembly plant. Then, God called me to become a pastor at the time when persecution against Christians began to ramp up under our new government, the Communist Republic of Germany.”

“Very interesting,” Svenja said. “So, you were led by God to leave the factory just as persecution was sweeping through?”

“That’s right. We need to head down a trail before we can talk more,” Konrad said. As he said that, he placed a slip of paper into Rolf’s hand and winked.

Rolf unfolded it and perused it. Then, he handed it to Kevin, who also read it. It requested for them to place their cell phones in the car so that their conversations wouldn’t be recorded. Kevin handed the slip of paper to his sister. Once she had read it, Kevin glanced at her and then walked back to the vehicle. She and Rolf followed, and all slipped their phones out of their pockets, and Rolf unlocked the driver’s door. He took their phones and placed them under the driver’s seat. Then, he locked and shut the door.

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Konrad gave them a thumb’s up and then walked into the woods. After a few paces, he turned back, seeing none of them following him. Then, he motioned toward them to join him, and Kevin walked toward him, a little reluctantly. He still wondered if he could trust this man completely. They now had no phones and no way of calling the police if something should happen, but he realized that he should just trust God.

Rolf had similar thoughts, but he remembered how God had spoken to him to go to the meet the stranger, so he followed Kevin. Svenja hurried to catch up to her husband. Then, they walked through the woods, hand in hand.

After walking for a distance of 800 meters, Konrad turned back to them and said, “Here is a good place to stop.” 

They were in a small clearing which was surrounded by tall larch and spruce trees and evergreen bushes. Svenja walked over to a long, fallen log and sat down. Her husband walked toward her, taking long strides, and sat beside her.

“Folks, make yourselves comfortable,” Konrad Adebayo said, looking from Kevin to the married couple on the log. “This is our meeting place.” Konrad removed his backpack, set it down, and stretched his arms.

“Why did we have to place the phones in the car?” Kevin asked after he had sat down on a small, mossy boulder.

Konrad cleared his throat and said: “The Baltanian government records every phone call, every text message, and every internet search in large supercomputers. Artificial intelligence, or A.I., software allows the computers to process vast amounts of data and filter out keywords of interest.”

Hearing Konrad say that sent chills down Svenja’s spine. She was baffled that such technology really existed and was used in real life, and not just in movies or video games.

“The A.I. software allows powerful computers to track the movements and thoughts of billions of people,” Konrad said as he paced back and forth a little. “It can accurately predict what most individuals in the system will do tomorrow and in the next five days. But, if you stay away from microphones, cameras, and the internet, then the A.I. network will not be able to track you, analyze you, or predict your decisions.”

“I didn’t realize all the data that internet-connected cameras and microphones collect is fed into A.I. computers,” Svenja said.

“Neither did I,” Kevin said.

“Does that mean that all networked devices are feeding data into the supercomputers even when we aren’t using them?” Svenja said, leaning forward slightly.

“Yes,” Konrad said, brushing a couple pine needles from his right sideburn. “That is how the Baltanian government and our communist puppet government can move to stop anti-government plots. It is also how they make lightning-fast arrests of Christians who choose to not conform to the false teachings of state-sponsored religious institutions.”

“Did you have someone slip a letter into my mailbox without going through the postal system?” Rolf said, fastening his gaze on the Nigerian man in the camouflage, surplus military uniform.

“I had a friend do that because I know that the communist authorities open every letter,” Konrad said, “and have each quickly scanned … almost instantly. A.I. software can read even the sloppiest of handwriting and determine what message is being conveyed. It can even make accurate guesses about the meaning of coded messages, or at least, give the message a digital red flag so that it would be brought to the attention of a human authority. I have to deliver my own messages, or have someone I trust do it.”

“Wow,” Svenja said, chuckling slightly. “I also didn’t know that either. This is strange.”

“It does sound strange that our country would be overtaken by foreign soldiers,” Konrad said, “and set up as a communist, puppet government, but that is what we all know happened.”

“So, why did you bring us into the woods, Konrad,” Kevin said, full of curiosity.

Just then, a twig snapped, and Kevin’s head turned quickly. He couldn’t make out what it was, but then his eyes opened wide.

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Kühnburg Forest

“What was that?” Kevin said, looking over toward some bushes four meters away from the boulder he was sitting on.

Svenja, sitting on the fallen log beside her husband, squinted into the forest where Kevin was looking. She could see something rustling the leafy undergrowth, but she couldn’t make out what it was.

Rolf picked up a fist-sized stone near the log, stood up, and walked toward the bushes, but Konrad quickly walked toward him and said, “Rolf, what are you doing?”

“I want to see what that is,” the 2.44-meter-tall giant said.

“There is no need to worry, folks,” Konrad said, glancing back at the rustling bushes.

Rolf looked at Konrad, frowning. “What if it is a wolf? I could at least ward it off with a stone. I won’t actually throw the stone at the wolf, because it would then detect how strong or weak I was. But, I would just throw the stone to scare it off.”

“Don’t do that,” Konrad said.

Just then, the bushes parted and a man wearing a camouflage outfit and watch cap appeared. From under the camouflage watch cap, tangled strands of brown hair protruded. He raised a hand and said, “I’m not a wolf. You can trust me.”

Rolf dropped the stone and squinted at the man, wondering who he might be.

Kevin stood and approached him. “I recognize you. You’re my sister’s neighbor.”

Rolf was staring at the man’s camouflaged face. Then, he shook his head and said, “You’re Reiner, my neighbor?”

“That is right,” Reiner said, grinning as he reached into a pocket in his camouflage trousers and drew out a brown, glasses case. Placing his thick-framed glasses on his face, he said, “You didn’t think you’d see me out here, did you?”

“But, you warned us about the person who placed a letter in my mailbox. Why warn us if you and Konrad are on the same team?” Rolf said.

“I didn’t recognize the man who Konrad had sent to make the delivery,” Reiner said. “I was concerned he might be working for the secret police or for a criminal organization. But, I was mistaken.”

“I didn’t know you were a Christian,” Svenja said as she stood up to walk over to the men.

Reiner looked at her, then said, “I didn’t feel comfortable talking about my faith in the hallway of the apartment building because I know there are security cameras and sensitive microphones discretely placed throughout the hallways, and I know that A.I. software can detect any mention of sensitive information.”

 “Are you the only one out here?” Rolf said to Reiner.

“For now we are the only ones here, but others are coming,” Reiner said, adjusting his thick-framed glasses, which were starting to slide down his pointy nose.

“So, why are you and Konrad wearing face paint and camouflage?” Svenja said.

“There are hikers who go out into these woods every once in a while,” Reiner said, “and we want to stay hidden as much as possible. The camouflage makes us harder to see, especially if we are still. I was slowly approaching you folks to see if you could detect me.”

“So, what are we meeting out here for?” Kevin said to Konrad.

“We are conducting a ‘secret’ church service in the woods,” Konrad replied as he walked over to where he had left his camouflage backpack.

After unzipping it, he drew out three pocket Bibles. Standing, he held them out toward his guests.

“I brought the Bible Tamara gave me,” Kevin said.

“Oh, you’ve met Tamara, a widow lady?” Konrad said.

“Yes,” Kevin said.

“She’s part of our group. I invited her to join us, and she said she’d try to come,” Konrad said.

The group continued talking and then began looking at the Bible together. Rolf had brought his and Svenja’s pocket Bibles with him.

“Let’s all turn to Psalm 91,” Konrad said as began flipping through his Bible.

The group turned in their Bibles to the book of Psalms, chapter 91. They read and discussed it for a little while as they waited for more of their group to arrive. Then, after an hour had passed, more bushes rustled.

Kevin turned to see a man and three women, who were wearing dark green clothing and backpacks, emerge from the dense foliage and softly approach Konrad’s group. He immediately recognized the red-haired widow, Tamara, among them. The middle-aged German lady smiled as she brushed some leaves off her green, long sleeve shirt. She wore baggy, dark green trousers and hiking boots, which had spatters of mud.

“It’s good to see you again,” Tamara said.

Kevin glanced at people behind Tamara. Among them, Kevin noticed a blond-haired girl who was about his age. ‘She might be in her late twenties,’ he thought. She noticed him and smiled at him briefly, and he returned the smile, a little sheepishly.

Beside her stood a woman in her mid-forties and a man who appeared to be in his late forties. The woman was Asian and had long, black hair. The man beside her appeared to be European, possibly Austrian or German. The Asian lady took the hand of her husband and he exchanged a few words with his wife.

“This is Michael and his wife, Susan,” Konrad said, looking at the married couple. Then, he glanced at the girl with the long, blond hair and said, “And, this is Maritza.”

Michael and Susan greeted the others and made small talk with Rolf and Svenja. While they were talking, Kevin swallowed nervously as he walked over toward Maritza, who had just set her backpack down. She was an attractive girl with a pretty face, but she was modestly dressed in a long, green, loose-fitting shirt that went from her neck down to below her waist. She wore women’s green, baggy trousers and hiking boots. And, beneath her green shirt, she wore a dark purple T-shirt, which was tucked into her trousers.

“Hi, how are you doing?” Kevin said a little nervously after he had noticed that her hands had no rings or any jewelry. ‘She must be single,’ he thought.

“I’m fine,” Maritza said, smiling at him in a friendly way. “How are you doing?”

“I’m Kevin. I mean, I’m good, and my name is Kevin,” he said awkwardly.

“This must be the first time you’ve come to our secret church meeting,” Maritza said.

“It is, but it won’t be the last,” Kevin said, grinning and winking.

She blushed slightly and said, “Well, I better find a seat. It was nice talking.”

“Yea, it sure was. Perhaps we could visit a little after the service,” Kevin said with a little awkwardness.

“Perhaps,” she replied, winking. Then, Maritza walked over to the fallen log and sat down beside Tamara, who had just taken a seat.

With a little sigh, Kevin walked over to his boulder and sat down. He felt foolish at how he had handled himself. He didn’t even know if this attractive girl was truly interested in him. He could tell that she wasn’t married, but he had no idea if she were divorced or not.

He had remembered seeing a Christian article on the internet (before it was heavily regulated) about how Christians should never remarry* after they had been divorced, unless their spouse was unfaithful to them while still being married. He hoped she was an unmarried virgin, like he was.

[* Regarding divorce, see Matthew 5:31-32, Mark 10:11-12, Matthew 19:8-9, and Luke 16:18. The words of Jesus Christ are still true today as they were about 2,000 years ago. See Hebrews 13:8.]

Once the rest of the group was seated on the fallen log, Konrad opened the Church service with a prayer. Then, he asked if anyone else would like to pray. Prayers went up for God’s blessing to be on His Church and for lost souls to enter His Kingdom. Other prayers were made for the leaders of the Communist Republic of Germany and for the leaders of Baltania and Dragonia. Everyone in the group knew how oppressive the communist puppet governments were in Europe. Ever since Baltania had invaded and conquered the rest of Europe, hundreds of millions of people were suffering under the ‘big brother’ system of monitoring and control.

As the prayers were made, Kevin tried to get his mind off his concerns and off of Maritza so he could fellowship with God, without distraction. He silently gave his concerns to his Father God and left them in God’s caring hands. Then, he let himself relax. The meeting was filled with peace and joy that Kevin had not experienced before. People began to pray in other languages, just under their breath, while others offered up prayers in German, the language they all spoke.

Then, Reiner stood up, walked a few meters from the log, and turned back toward the others before he said, “God has a message He would like me to share with you. ‘Thus says the Lord God Almighty, I am with you, My children. I love you all very much. You are precious to Me. I will be calling Kevin, and Rolf, and Svenja to minister with the rest of my children to the sick, the diseased, and the homeless.

‘You will minister where I send you, and I will never forsake you. I will lead you and guide you in all that you are to do. I will never place any heavy burdens on your hearts, but only give you conviction and peace.

‘There are many things I want all of you to know, but I will guide you into all truth. Follow the leading of My Spirit, and you will do well, and I will never allow you to be caught and placed in prison, if you follow Me and do what I specifically show you to do. I shall always be with you. So, talk with Me, rest in Me, and obey Me, and I the Lord your God and Abba Father have spoken.’”

After Reiner has finished speaking, Kevin whispered to God, “Thank you, Father God, for sharing that message with us through Reiner. I want to follow your Spirit wherever you lead me because you said you’ll never forsake me. Thank you, Abba Father.”

Svenja had felt convicted while she had heard the message from God through Reiner. She knew God was calling her to Him and to trust only in Jesus Christ for salvation. But, she had resisted turning her life fully over to God and receiving Jesus as her personal Savior and Lord because she had feared what that might entail. She had thought earlier: ‘What will my friends think of me if I become a follower of Jesus?’

She had been afraid of persecution, but she now realized that God had promised to be with her to the end, and God’s Spirit was bringing conviction to her of her sins and of her need for Him. So Svenja decided that she would not wait any longer. She suddenly stood to her feet and said, “I want to make Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. Will someone help me?”

“Svenja,” Tamara said, “I’ve been waiting for this opportunity ever since I met you.”

With that, Tamara shared a few points about salvation through Jesus and then led her in a prayer, which Svenja prayed from her heart to God. Soon after praying, Svenja began to feel the guilt and fear (which she had been plagued with all her life) fade away from her heart. And, they were replaced with peace and joy.

“I feel a little different now, just a little,” Svenja said.

“God is working on your heart and you are now a born-again Christian,” Tamara said, smiling as she reached to embrace the younger lady.

After they had hugged, Svenja said, “I choose to dedicate my life entirely to God. I want Him to be my Father and my God the rest of my life.”

“He is that to you right now,” Tamara said.

“And, forever,” Svenja added.

“Amen,” Konrad said, smiling with great joy as he looked from Tamara to Svenja. “Sister, you are a beloved child of God.”

The group continued fellowshipping with one another for another hour. Then, they began to go their separate ways. Michael and Susan said their goodbyes and slowly began walking back the way they had come. As they did, Maritza was visiting with Svenja and Tamara. Kevin had been talking with Konrad and Rolf. But, he soon noticed that Maritza was reaching for her backpack and appeared to be getting ready to leave.

“Let’s plan to meet up again very soon,” Tamara said to Svenja.

“Where should we meet?” Svenja said.

“Here would be a good place,” Tamara said, glancing at the forest around them. Then, looking at the younger lady, she said, “Svenja, what day would work for you?”

“I have the weekend off from work,” Svenja said.

“Okay, I’ll need to talk with Maritza about that since I am staying at her place,” Tamara said.

Maritza had paused to overhear Svenja and Tamara’s conversation. She placed her Bible in her backpack, zipped a flap shut, and stood up. Looking at Tamara, she said, “I would love to go with you, Tamara, to see Svenja again. But, I wonder if any of the men were coming to.”

Hearing her say that, Kevin approached them and said, “I’d be happy to go.”

A little surprised that Kevin was overhearing her, Maritza turned to see Kevin walking toward her and the other women.

“Oh, you want to come too?” Maritza said, smiling meekly.

“If you’d like me to,” Kevin said.

“Well, we would be glad to have guys accompany us too,” Maritza said, glancing at Kevin, before turning back to the women.

Kevin blushed a little, feeling a somewhat awkward.

“I’m sure Rolf will join me,” Svenja said. “But, I’ll have to talk to him about it. Let me do that now.”

Svenja then walked over to her husband who had just finished saying goodbye to Konrad.

As she did, Kevin walked a little closer to Maritza and hesitated a couple seconds before he mustered up the courage to say, “Maritza, would you like to give me your phone number? I thought maybe you’d like to stay in touch.”

She began to feel herself blushing slightly but tried to keep cool. Then, she said calmly, “I don’t have a phone.”

“You don’t? I wonder why, if I may ask?” Kevin said, taken aback.

“Kevin,” Maritza said with seriousness in her expression, “the government records everything you say or write down on your phone. All of the date is fed into supercomputers that run A.I. If you speak about certain topics enough, you will be detained by the police for questioning. So, that is why I don’t have a phone. And, the phones record your conversations even when you aren’t using them.”

Kevin was surprised. It hadn’t fully donned on him to what level the puppet governments run by Baltania were spying on their citizens. Maritza and Konrad were the first people he met who spoken about the sinister aspects of A.I. supercomputers and their powerful “all-seeing” capacities.

“Do you have an old email account or a social media account?” Kevin said.

Maritza shook her head. “It isn’t safe to use email or social media for communication anymore. Baltania and Baltania’s puppet governments control, store, and monitor every word and image transmitted through social media and email platforms.”

“Then, could I send you a paper letter in the postal mail?” Kevin said, feeling his heart starting to sink a little.

“I’m sorry, Kevin, but that would also be dangerous,” Maritza said, sympathetically. “Every piece of mail is scanned, and the scanned images are fed into a hub of supercomputers. A.I. software reads the letters and turns the scanned images into text which is sifted and searched for key words, phrases, and thoughts that would hint at anything suspicious to the government.”

Kevin frowned, feeling his heart sink even further.

“Even if we were to write in a secret code,” Maritza said, “the computers would run their powerful A.I. software and interpret the code. I’ve heard that these A.I. computers have 99 percent accuracy, and are much faster and much more efficient than a billion scientists.”

Kevin sighed. “I guess we won’t be able to correspond then.”

Maritza grinned and shook her head. Then, she said, “Kevin, you must be a new underground Christian.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have learned ways of getting around the surveillance,” Maritza said.

Kevin frowned. “Like what?”

Maritza hurried over to her backpack, zipped open a pocket, and drew out a metal container which could fit in her hand. Walking back to Kevin, she handed it to him. It was a square container with a sealable metal lid. Kevin popped the lid open and looked inside. It appeared to be at least two centimeters deep and it was empty. He could see that a few folded pieces of paper could fit inside. A rubberized seal allowed the lid to fit on so tightly that the container was waterproof.

“What do you do with this?” he wondered.

She chuckled. “Just place a folded sheet of paper in it, snap the lid on, and hide it in a designated spot. I will check that spot twice a week. And, I will then give you a reply and put it in the same container, in the same spot.”

“What if I left the letter at your place?” Kevin said.

“If you leave a letter off in my apartment mailbox often, residents may wonder about it and call the police,” Maritza said. “As you know, a postal worker is the only one who can now legally place mail in mailboxes.”

“You’re right,” Kevin said. Then, he looked at her and grinned. “You are very knowledgeable about computers and surveillance.” Then, he quipped, “You must be a computer programmer or something.”

“Oh, yeah, and I wear thick glasses and a pocket protector when you’re not looking,” Maritza said jokingly, with a grin.

Kevin chuckled.

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CLICK HERE FOR CHAPTER 6.

AN EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 6 ("Being Followed in a Park"):

'... “So, where was the hiding place for the container?” Kevin said.

Just then, Maritza grimaced and locked eyes with Kevin. Then, her eyes shifted to the right, in a non-verbal signal to him. He didn’t turn his head, understanding that she was letting him know that someone was following them.

Twenty meters down, the path turned a sharp corner to the right, around a hill, which allowed Kevin to inconspicuously turn his head to see who was trailing them. A long-bearded man about his age was walking along the path and texting on a smartphone. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes and a black baseball cap sat on his head. From under the edge of the hat poked longish, black hair. As Kevin watched him, the man looked up at him briefly before quickly returning his gaze to his phone. The stranger wasn’t more than 10 meters down the path behind him. 

Kevin felt chills travel down his body. He didn’t recognize the man, but the stranger’s behavior made him wonder if ...'

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