The Society by Lilith Saintcrow

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The black-ops government agency called Sigma broke Justin Delgado, trained his psionic talent and turned him into a killer. Then he escaped and joined the Society, an underground resistance movement of psions determined to use their talents to bring Sigma down. Competent, cold, and cruelly efficient, he's the best operative the Society has, a legend among the psions who fight a shadow war against an enemy that owns the courts, the press, and the police. Feared even by his own teammates, hunted by the government, and too damaged to feel anything but clinical rage, he is utterly alone--until he meets Rowan. When Rowan Price stumbles across Delgado's team in an abandoned house, he is assigned to make contact with her, bring her in, and keep her alive--because Rowan is one of the most powerful psychics the resistance has ever encountered. She possesses a talent that can heal shattered minds and broken bodies, or it can incite riots and revolution. If the government gets its hands on her, she could very well mean the downfall of the resistance, because nobody, not even Rowan, is quite sure how far her talents extend or how powerful she could eventually become. Twenty-four hours after she meets Delgado, her life is shattered and she's on the run from Sigma. If Sigma can't take her freedom, they'll settle for her life. She is simply too powerful to be left alone. The Society will welcome Rowan, if she can stay alive long enough to join them. Unfortunately, there's a traitor buried in the ranks of the resistance, ready to betray everything the Society has worked so hard to achieve. If the Society goes down, Rowan is at risk. God alone knows what Delgado will do to keep her safe, becauseRowan is fast becoming the only thing in the world he cares about?

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The kitchen was a shambles. Delgado met the first Sig with a strike to the throat, the man folded down, his larynx crushed. The other man shot again, missed both times. By that time, Delgado cleared leather and popped him twice. The Sig crashed to the floor. Del was dimly aware of the crash as the front door gave. If it's a standard Sig team they're waiting for the points to get her out the front door. They must have identified the dad and the other woman through the window. If it wasn't for Henderson calling me we might already be caught. They think Rowan's upstairs. That'll give me a few seconds to get her out of here.

He looked for Rowan. She had scrambled forward on her knees and was by the butcher-block table, holding her father's limp body. "No!" She probably thought she was screaming, but the only thing coming out was a choked whisper.

Delgado leaned down. His hand closed around her arm. "Move," he barked. "Come on, Rowan! You can't help them now."

The woman--Hilary--lay crumpled on the floor, her sleek dark head a mess of hamburger. The Major had taken one in the chest and lay unmoving in Rowan's arms. She shook him, frantically, still making that choked mewling noise that tore at Delgado's heart. "Come on!" he said. "They'll be coming down the stairs and sweeping the house next. Come on, Rowan!"

She looked up at him, her eyes red and brimming with tears. "What's happening?"

He hauled her up, trying to be gentle, and remembered she had bare feet. Can't afford to holster the gun, might have to drop another Sig if they have units waiting on the side. He bent and hefted her over his shoulder. "Sorry, Rowan," he said, andhis boots crunched over broken glass. "Goddamn."

There was a shuddering impact, probably against a bedroom door upstairs, that shook the whole house. No time to calm her down. No time to do anything but get her out. Cold hit his skin in a wave, and his entire body felt full of electric prickles. Danger--and her. She wasn't screaming, but she was struggling ineffectually, beating at his back and trying to twist free.

"I'm sorry, Rowan," he said again, and moved faster.