Illicit Intuitions: Sensory Ops, Book 3 Read Online Free

high-dollar purses or knock-offs most women carried and coveted. If the woman he’d met was the real Ava, she didn’t play the game of competing with the female Joneses of the world. She lacked a well-developed brain-mouth filter, but seemed comfortable in her own skin.
    On the surface, she appeared to be what she claimed.
    “H.” Dana, the only other person who worked in the lab, stuck her head into his office. “The kids are arriving, and there are some men from the FBI here to see you.”
    Again? “You verify them?”
    Dana’s brown eyes darkened with her readiness to believe in conspiracies. “The one from before. The local Bureau office confirmed the other one.”
    Which didn’t mean the men were honest or trustworthy. He and Dana had seen their share of abused badges. More accurately, they’d seen government officials abusing their positions for personal or nefarious gain.
    Still, what could the FBI want with him now? He employed every precaution to avoid their triggers and it wasn’t working. He’d already told them he knew nothing about the case they were working. Clearly they thought he was hiding something.
    “Send them in.” He checked his watch and smiled at Dana. “Tell the children I’ll be there shortly.”
    They were his favorite group to work with. Their innocence reaffirmed his motivations to keep any of them from suffering abuse—either from other kids or adults mistreating them. Especially kids with real abilities.
    “You got it.”
    She disappeared only to return less than a minute later with two men. The new one presented his badge as Dana headed back out to be with the children. Agent Burgess stood back with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.
    “I’m Dr. H.” H nodded to the serious, suit-clad man. “You look like a Fed.” And then to Burgess dressed in jeans. “You wouldn’t if you lost the coat and gun.”
    “Part of the job.” The man in the suit offered his hand. “Agent Breck Lawson. You’ve met Agent Burgess. We’re with the Specialized Crimes Unit.”
    “I know.” Aware of the hazards, he withheld the desire to read them. Readings were exhausting. Connecting to someone without consent or proper preparation often led to uncomfortable repercussions.
    Instead he gestured them toward the couch and chairs in the far corner of his office and relied on appearances and reactions for revelations.
    Few people knew what he was. None knew of his most recent abilities. Abilities that made reading the Feds too risky. Abilities that made him a bit of an outcast in a modern world he was still growing accustomed to. A world TV hadn’t fully explained.
    Shit, the new abilities made impromptu and public readings downright dangerous. Deadly.
    “I only have a few minutes. What can I do for you?”
    Agent Lawson raised a brow, either surprised they’d been invited to sit or that he hadn’t chosen the position of power behind his desk while leaving them the slightly uncomfortable chairs before him. It didn’t matter. H didn’t need posturing games. They’d only gotten this far to settle his curiosity.
    Once they’d settled on the sofa, Lawson dove right in. “We have reason to believe you’re in danger.”
    “What kind of danger?” After feeling the blast from Janus, he couldn’t claim surprise that a threat was coming. He was surprised the FBI knew or came to warn him.
    Lawson braced his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. Aware. Ready.
    Burgess took the more relaxed stance of leaning back into the cushions, but he was no less prepared to act like a lion ready to pounce on his prey.
    “We know only that it’s tied to the case Agent Burgess spoke with you about previously,” Agent Lawson, clearly the lead, responded.
    He met and held Lawson’s bold gaze. He didn’t need abilities to know they withheld information. Hell, the government excelled at secrets. “You mean that’s all you’ll share. You wouldn’t have come here, said anything, without