Snatched but Followed

Snatched but Followed by Frannie Watson

Acknowledgments - It has been with great humility that I have had this opportunity to write about sex trafficking. To the quality people I have interviewed for the details in this story but to whom I cannot thank by name, I say thank you and I could not have written this story without you.

It has been one of my greatest honors to have met you and I commend you for all that you have accomplished and will accomplish to heal and then help heal those devastated by sex trafficking.

Although I do also want to thank so many by name: Nancy Addison my very talented editor, thank you, I could not publish without you. Nancy Thompson, such a wonderful friend for many years, thank you for your support and brilliant ideas, help, and editing skills on the beginning of this book. Greg Watson, who reads the manuscript to give us his astute insights and who is the photographer of my author’s photo, thank you. Doug Watson, my husband and friend, thank you for your keen eye for details that rescued my story countless times.

Regarding the story’s essence, once again I want to thank each of these kind people who gave me their time and experience during their interviews, thank you: Michele Rickett, author and president of the international ministry – She is Safe. Dana Ridenour Endorf, author of Behind The Mask - retired Special Agent Dana Ridenour of the FBI gave me her perspective of law enforcement. Her experience in sex trafficking legitimized my story. I also interviewed others who are in the category I began with above, thank you.

The remaining people I want to thank are the many prayer warriors who prayed for me throughout these last eighteen months. Some of them also were helpful with their feedback about this story.

One of my WDA team members warned me that I would be attacked spiritually if I wrote about sex trafficking and she was correct. I am so thankful she told me this, so I could ask people to pray. So thank you so much for your prayers: Jan Wolbrecht, Renata Dennis, Nancy Thompson, Mary Bowman, Jane Neall, Hollie Kent, Shan O’Neal, Janet and Stephen Meeks, Doug Watson, Nancy Addison, our churches and my WDA teammates: Jack Larson, Margo Theivagt, Lee Tolar, Nancy Higgins, Joseph Hobbs and Beverly Keller.

I so appreciate the wonderful feedback I received from my readers of the first novel, Pursued but Shielded, thank you. Your insights and encouragement were priceless, thank you.

I want all my readers to know that victims who escape from sex trafficking will need a great deal of support for a long time. This story, because of the time restraints of a novel, can only show a condensed time period for the characters. In the recommended readings at the back of the novel, I have mentioned just a few real life examples of what each victim must push through to make a new life for themselves. I only wrote generally about the atrocities of sex trafficking out of respect for the Christian audience that I target. Please realize that some of the information I recommended is graphic about sex trafficking.

I know I have probably not mentioned each of the people who helped me with this project, so I now thank each of you. I hope each of my readers will be moved by this story as well as entertained.

Thursday, May 15, 1997 - …Once Tiny reached the back of her apartment he tried to open the door but it had a lot of locks. He began hitting the door with his shoulder. It took him several times to hit the door before he broke through, so he knew that the girl had heard him.

Once he got through he realized he was not in the apartment but a hallway, going left and right. At each end was a door. He remembered when he looked at the apartment building from the front that the sister’s apartment was on his right. He hit the door on his left hard enough to break through on the first hit. He ran through the apartment – it was empty, with the front door opened. He ran through the door, slamming it shut. He ran down the steps and out of the apartment building.

Mai had been working on her homework in the kitchen when she heard the noise at the back of the apartment. She hurried back to her mother’s room and peaked through the blinds. She saw one of the men who had come to the apartment earlier that week. She ran out the front door and down the steps to Mrs. Baines’ apartment. Mai started banging on the door, looking up the steps, ready to run if she saw that other man. No one came to the door. Better get out of here, fast. She turned and ran. Just as she pushed through the outside door she heard a door above her slam and then him coming down the steps. She ran toward the neighborhood store screaming for someone to help her.

Face saw the girl run out of the building. He grinned as he watched her run down the street. He drove to the entrance just as Tiny came out and pulled away as soon as Tiny had gotten into the car. They drove down the street until they caught up to her.

Face said, “Tiny, grab her fast and shut her up before someone calls the cops.”

“I know what I’m doing. Where do you think she’s going?”

“I don’t care, just grab her. There can be no mistakes tonight!”

They drove up beside her. Face threw the car into park as Tiny jumped out of the car. He picked up Mai, holding her with one arm as he opened the back door and threw her in. She sprawled onto the back seat, screaming, and Tiny jumped in with her. He slammed the back door and Face hit the gas.