#Lost Read online

  HEATHER HORROCKS:

  This project was scary. A group of three PG-rated clean romance authors decided to do a series about teens being groomed to be stolen and forced into sex slavery. We knew we could write from the beginning to the abduction and from the rescue to The End, but how could we possibly tackle the middle of their stories which were basically XXX-rated? How were we supposed to pull that off without going to the dark side, as it were? But we felt impressed to proceed, and the ideas began to come.

  We decided to write from two points of view—both the targeted teen as well as a member of a special team formed of trafficking survivors. The team was organized by a man (Cyrus Black, whose story was told in #Lost) whose daughter was stolen away. We knew we needed to entertain while we taught about the dangers, so we added the undercover team, taking our inspiration from 21 Jump Street and, later, The Thundermans, both of which meet Taken.

  We hope our books open the eyes of young people to the dangers around them. If we can keep even one teen from falling for the enticements and lies, we’ll feel it was totally worth the time and effort. This was a hard-written book. Hard to plot. Hard to write. Hard to live through vicariously as I wrote. Hard to face my own PTSD from my own childhood abuse.

  Like the others, all the profits from my book are being donated to the anti-trafficking or aftercare of our choice. I’ve chosen to donate my profits to Tim Ballard’s organization, Operation Underground Railroad, so that I can aid in rescuing children. When I watched his first documentary, I was touched when he said to use your unique talents and skills to help. So now I have.

  About the Author ~ Taylor Hart

  Taylor Hart is a best-selling author and Amazon top seller of Billionaire, Football, and Military Romance. All of her books have themes that are inspirational and faith-based. She is a mentor and coach and is obsessed with principles on success and self-improvement.

  Her greatest joy is that she is a mother and a wife. She has four amazing boys that remind her of little MMA fighters! She is grateful for her amazing husband who supports and loves her!

  Taylor has a deep love of God and feels a deep loyalty to her Savior, Jesus Christ. She gratefully acknowledges His healing love and forgiveness in her life.

  Taylor also takes extreme pride in being an American. She is so grateful and proud of the men and women that support and preserve our freedom.

  You can find Taylor at: https://taylorhartbooks.com/ or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at the links below.

  About the Author ~ Jo Schneider

  Jo Schneider grew up in Utah and Colorado, and finds mountains helpful in telling which direction she is going. One of Jo's goals is to travel to all seven continents—five down and two to go.

  Another goal was to become a Jedi Knight, but when that didn't work out, Jo started studying Shaolin Kempo. She now has a black belt, to match her shoes, and keeps going back for more, because hitting things is fun. An intervention may be in order.

  Being a geek at heart, Jo has always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy. She writes both and hopes to introduce readers to worlds that wow them and characters they can cheer for.

  Jo also writes clean, uplifting romance under the pen name Karly Stratford.

  Jo lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her adorkable husband, Jon, who is very useful for science and computer information as well as getting items off of top shelves.

  Stalk Jo at joannschneider.com or Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in the links below.

  About the Author ~ Heather Horrocks

  Heather Horrocks is the USA Today bestselling author of numerous light-hearted, funny, feel-good books. She loves whimsy, happy endings, unicorns, and making readers laugh. She’s written the popular Moonchuckle Bay paranormal romances (with a unicorn ranch), Chick Flick Clique and Christmas Street romantic comedies, Who-Dun-Him Inn cozy mysteries), Women Who Knew inspirational books. She’s currently working with a talented screenwriter/producer on the first book in her Christmas Street series, Bah, Humbug!

  Raised overseas for her first seventeen years, she hid under the bed with her mother during a South American coup, waterskied through an oil slick in the Persian Gulf, partied with a Kuwaiti princess classmate at her palace, flew in and out of the blacked-out Cairo airport mere moments before it was bombed during the Six Day War, rode a camel (and ate a camel steak), crossed the finish line first at Utah's Miller Motorsports Park, and walked on hot coals—without getting burned!—at a firewalk workshop!

  She loves anyone who can make her laugh, which explains why she adores her witty husband, her funny friends and sisters, Anne George mysteries and Molly Harper romances, and her cute little dog Gus. She loves to cook for friends, siblings, and especially her children and their families. She and her husband reside in Utah. You can find her online at www.BooksByHeatherHorrocks.com.

  She faced many of her own fears caused by childhood abuse in order to write in the #NorthStarToFreedom series, hoping to save even #JustOneChild from the hell of sex trafficking.

  If you’d like to be on her Street Team and become an official Scathingly Brilliant Reader, click here.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to our #NorthStarTeam—Taylor Hart, Jo Schneider, and Heather Horrocks.

  Thanks to Tim Ballard of Operation Underground Railroad for providing the inspiration to use our talents in this cause and the guidance to write for the teens rather than the moms.

  Huge shout out to Cammy Bowker at Global E.P. for all the details, stories, and first-hand knowledge of rescues and aftercare.

  Thanks to all our awesome readers—editors, beta readers, and others—who donated their time and, some of them, all or part of their reading fees.

  We couldn’t have done it without you.

  Rights & Copyrights

  Copyright © 2019 @ArchStone Ink, Jo Schneider, & Heather Horrocks

  Cover Design: Steven Novak at NovakIllustration.com

  All Rights Reserved ~ This includes the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions.

  Work of Fiction ~ This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Ways You Can Help Stop Sex Trafficking

  #EndSlavery #EndTrafficking #HumanTrafficking, #ModernSlavery, #Trafficking, #ForcedLabor #SupplyChains #EndSlavery #NorthStarToFreedom

  January is officially National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, but you don’t have to wait until then. There are lots of things you can do all year long.

  1. Pray. Pray for the victims to be rescued. Pray for them to find hope. Pray that they will heal through Jesus.

  2. Pray for inspiration on what you can do that is unique to you, your talents, your situation, and your finances.

  3. Log into your Amazon account and set the SMILE account to donate to Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) or other anti-trafficking organizations.

  4. Donate money to or volunteer with Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) Operation Underground Railroad - http://ourrescue.org/ - Tim Ballard. Their slogan: We exist to rescue children from sex trafficking.

  5. Donate money to or volunteer with Global Education Philanthropists. Go to their website to see how you can join in the rescue and aftercare efforts.

  6. Donate to and volunteer with another anti-trafficking organization of your choice.

  7. For more ideas, go to www.OURfilm.org.

  8. In the U.S., if you think someone may be a victim of trafficking, call 911 or the National Human Trafficking Resource Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 (24 hours). Add the numb
er into your phone so you don’t have to look it up when you suspect someone is a victim and you only have minutes to alert officials.

  9. Look at where your food and clothing and other goods come from. Check the Department of Labor’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.

  10. Ask your government representatives (local, state, and federal) what they’re doing to fix this problem.

  11. Make a call to the NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN (NCMEC) to report child pornography or a missing child. 1-800-THE-LOST (843-5678)

  12. Join the United Way movement to end human trafficking by texting ENDSLAVERY to 51555.

  13. Ask your school staff if they’re aware of how traffickers target school-aged kids. Ask them to add modern slavery to their curricula.

  14. Ask Congress to help stop online child sex traffickers. In fact, contact all your elected officials. Go online right now to find out who they are and how to contact them. Let them know you want trafficking stopped.

  15. Donate to and get information from anti-trafficking organizations.

  16. Read books on the subject to become more informed. In addition to the #NorthStar books, some good ones are Girls Like Us (Rachel Lloyd), Half the Sky (Nicholas D. Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn), The Just Church (Jim Martin).

  17. Contact the NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE if you suspect someone is a trafficking victim. Call 1-888-373-7888 (toll-free, 24/7 lines), text 233733, chat at www.humantraffickinghotline.org/chat.

  18. Team up with Unicef’s efforts to stamp out trafficking. Use the hashtag #EndTrafficking and tag @UNICEFUSA.

  19. Give a portion of your income or business profits and/or time to anti-slavery efforts.

  20. Use your specific, unique skills and passions to shed light on this dark subject. What is yours uniquely to contribute?

  21. Tim Ballard has interviewed dozens of predators, and all of them started with porn that grew increasingly darker and younger. If you’re hooked on pornography, get help before it’s too late for you. Fight the New Drug is a great resource.

  22. Watch the movie The Abolitionists, the documentary Operation Toussaint, and/or the movie The Sound of Freedom. As you do, pay attention to any thoughts you have of ways you can help.

  23. Be aware of and speak out against all forms of grooming—including drag queen story hours at libraries. This article quotes Jon Uhler, a licensed counselor who has worked clinically with approximately 4,000 serial predators for over a decade, as saying he believes Drag Queen Story Hour events constitute "the greatest grooming program ever devised" and predators "are laughing all the way to the bank."

  FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THESE SITES:

  U.S. Dept. Of State’s 15 Ways You Can Help Fight Human Trafficking

  Protect Young Minds — 4 Misunderstood Signs of Child Abuse: A Sexual Assault Nurse Speaks Up

  5 Ways You Can Help Stop Human Trafficking

  Donation of Profits

  The three of us are honored to help rescue children from sex trafficking by donating the profits from our individual books in this series to:

  Operation Underground Railroad“We exist to rescue children from sex trafficking.”

  https://ourrescue.org

  and/or

  Global Education Philanthropists (Global E.P.)

  “Global Education Philanthropists strategically fights human trafficking by empowering communities through education.”

  https://www.globalep.org