My protective instincts kicked in right away. No matter how strong or controlled I tried to be, there was one person who could shake me without even laying a hand on me.
I pushed the thought down, pushing the psychic intrusion back. My vision cleared, my control returned. I could still taste the echo of fear, the thrill of anger, and the edge of something darker, an exhilaration I couldn't name.
The threat hadn't disappeared; it had only retreated, for now. Someone out there was smarter, faster, closer than I imagined, and they knew exactly how to get to me.
I turned to Thorne. "Lock this floor down. Triple the sensor arrays and find me anything unusual in the last six months: transactions, psychic spikes, communications. Everything."
Thorne's jaw tightened. "Yes, sir. Already running patterns against city grids and known psychic anomalies."
I looked at Max. "Prepare for a counter-assault. If they make a move again, we hit hard. No mistakes."
