Pleasant Extortion (The Extortionists 1)

“I d…don’t understand.”

“The extortionist will take everything he or she can until there isn’t anything left to take. More importantly, they seem to be obsessed with their chosen targets, often pursuing them as aggressively as a wolf-shifter or vampire would pursue his or her mate.

“After the extortionist chooses the person they want to live as, a man or woman they believe is his or her chosen mate, then they seem to focus on removing obstacles. In your case, the obstacle was your job.”

“If the extortionist here in Pleasant is a male, wouldn’t it make sense for him to choose another man?”

“Apparently yours is a transvestite.”

“Do you know how crazy this all sounds?” Her gaze jumped from one man to the next. “Do you?”

Randon glared at Kurt. “Really?”

“Just sayin’, man.”

“The extortionist goes after a sexually compatible partner he will enjoy during self-sex sessions. Remember, he or she takes over his or her mate’s body.”

Kurt released a hard breath. “Look at it this way, if I’m an extortionist, I’ll probably go to some random porn studio, pick up the hottest babe I can find, and stake a claim. That way when I’m standing in front of a mirror, getting off on a good time, I can enjoy what I see.”

“Thank you, Kurt. I’d already put two and two together.”

“Just trying to be of service,” he said, waggling his brows.

“This is absurd,” she said, focusing on Randon again.

“Crazy or not, it’s true. A lunatic is coming for you. Now, we need to work out a game plan to make sure he never finds you.”

Chapter Seventeen

“This won’t work, Randon.” Kurt, as unreasonable as he was, often ended up being his voice of reason. “He follows her scent worse than a werewolf follows his mate’s. There’s no way you’ll pull this off.”

“It’ll work. You’ll see.” Randon arranged the Bold and Free jackets in two separate stacks. “Once her scent is on all these, he’ll be so confused, he won’t know which way to go.”

“And at what cost? Hmm? Let’s say he follows her scent south only to discover he’s been manipulated. Then what?”

Randon kept arranging the jackets. “All I’m asking for here is a little time. Buy us enough to get out of Pleasant. Buy Sheriff McKinney time to get the Feds in here.”

“Why didn’t you tell her we suspect these things always work in pairs?” He frowned. “Randon, if that’s so, we have to lead two of them astray and I’m afraid that won’t happen. One will stay here and guard the perimeter and the other will follow her trail.”

“Then when you scatter, you’ll have to spread out quickly. If they have a way of communicating with one another, and most supernatural species can, then the second one will be hovering over her house within an hour or so after your departure.”

“An hour?” Kurt shook his head. “Try several minutes.”

Pageant entered the room then. Pale as a white sheet, she studied the jackets and said, “I can’t let you do this.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Kurt bit out. “If you want to live, you’ll go along with Randon’s plan.”

“I’m an officer of the law,” she said quietly. “I protect people. I don’t put their lives in danger.”

“Then I imagine your bags are packed and you’re ready to get the hell out of Pleasant.” Kurt tossed her the first jacket. “Put it on. Wear it around. Then, do the same with all the others. We’ve gotta get out of here.”

Gripping the leather jacket, Pageant said, “Don’t you understand? If I do this, I’m putting all of you in danger. Somebody will die out there.”

“Not this time,” Randon said confidently. “Our men were blindsided out there. They weren’t watching for the extortionist. I don’t know why they didn’t acknowledge the seriousness of the case, but they didn’t.”

Pageant grabbed his arm and shook it. “Don’t do this, Randon. I can’t be responsible for more deaths.”

“You aren’t responsible, honey. That’s on him. Not you.”