The End Begins – Still Here #1

Description

The Story

As I searched for a storyline that could introduce my new characters and start off the Still Here! Series, I came across a posting online from someone in Germany who had purchased what he thought was a brand new flash drive from Amazon. When he inserted it into his computer, he discovered a series of PDF files detailing the work of a US company called The CYM Corp. He found that work quite disturbing as these files outlined the trafficking of children for use in harvesting a naturally occurring compound called adrenochrome from their blood. It was thought to be a “fountain of  youth” that could invigorate the body as one aged. I investigated further and found that many places where these PDFs were posted were no longer available. I also researched adrenochrome itself, to learn that it is easily manufactured and doesn’t need to be harvested from blood. Yet, if these files were true, such harvesting was actually taking place. Were these files simply a big hoax? If so, someone went to an incredible effort and invested a large amount of time to put them together. For me, as a suspense writer, I couldn’t resist using this as the basis for my story. Curiously, about a year after I released this book, I heard a press conference by Joe Biden where he actually made a side comment about how some people say he uses the blood of children to stay sharp and how incredulous such an idea was. I heard him say that and thought, wow, has he or someone on his staff read my novel?

The Issues

Child trafficking is a much bigger issue than the common man would believe, not just in the US but worldwide. When my wife and I went on a missions trip to Cambodia, we learned of the trade in children there. Parents would sell their children just to have money to eat. Most of these kids were sold into the sex trades, used as household labor, or used to panhandle money from tourists. In the latter case, the children were often physically maimed to elicit more sympathy, but once they got too old to solicit, they were discarded to fend for themselves. Here in the US, it’s estimated that over 70% of the children crossing illegally into our country along the southern border are moved into trafficking. I could go on with examples I’ve dug up in my research, but you get the picture. In reality, my story here isn’t so farfetched.

Would you like to review the PDFs for yourself? Here are links to those files:

WTF1      WTF2 part 1      WTF2 part 2      WTF3 part 1     WTF3 part 2     WTF3 part 3     WTF3 part 4     WTF3 part 5     WTF3 part 6

 

[Note: 9/19/2024 — I rec’d an email today from someone looking for the PDFs I’ve provided here for the past three-plus years. She couldn’t find them. I recalled that late last year, someone from The CYM Corp was visiting my website. They did so for several days in a row. I wondered at the time whether or not I might be hearing from their lawyers (but I never did). Then, earlier this year, my website developed several “glitches” affecting some of my books’ pages. Since more than this book’s page were involved, I never connected the dots and never suspected that perhaps this book was the real target. Yet, I discovered the links (restored above) were missing when I looked into this lady’s request today. Hmmm, gotta wonder . . .]