Kerrelyn Sparks - Eat Prey Love

Caitlyn’s face grew warm as all the women expressed amazement.

Emma watched her closely. “Is it true you know over a dozen languages?”

Caitlyn nodded. She had an odd suspicion that Emma’s interest in her was more than casual.

“How long does it take for you to learn a language now?” Emma asked.

Caitlyn hesitated before answering. “A few hours.” Her face burned hotter when the ladies gasped. It wasn’t like she’d mastered some fantastic skill. It was simply a weird gift she’d been born with. Once she’d figured out she was a psychic linguist, she’d honed the talent to her present level of expertise. It wasn’t something she usually talked about, since most people refused to believe she could understand any language she heard. They either thought she was lying or loony.

“That must have been extremely useful for your job with the State Department,” Emma observed. “They were wrong to let you go.”

Caitlyn stiffened and glanced at her sister, who stepped closer and lowered her voice. “I told Emma you were looking for employment.”

“How did you know?” The State Department had done a good job of hushing up her big mistake.

“I called Mom to invite her to the birthday party,” Shanna continued quietly. “After she gave me an excuse for not coming, she told me what had happened to you and that you were here in New York, looking for a job. She said Dad wanted to hire you for his team. I wanted to give you an alternative, so I asked Emma to find you.”

Emma smiled. “I’m one of the owners of MacKay Security and Investigation.”

So that was how they’d tracked her down at her hotel. Even so, Caitlyn was stunned that her mom hadn’t wanted to come to her grandson’s birthday party. “I don’t understand why Mom and Dad aren’t here. Or why Dad told me never to come here.”

Shanna winced. “I was afraid of that.” She leaned closer. “I just want you to know that you’re not alone. You don’t need to stay at a hotel. We have a townhouse in Manhattan that’s mostly empty, and you can live there as long as you need to.”

Caitlyn swallowed hard. “That would really help.”

“Emma and I thought you might like a job with MacKay Security and Investigation,” Shanna continued.

A job offer? This was the last thing she’d expected at her nephew’s birthday party. She turned to Emma. “That’s very kind of you, but I have no experience in the security business.”

Emma dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “We conduct investigations all over the world. Your linguistic abilities make you ideally suited for that kind of work.”

“Thank you. I’ll be glad to consider it.” Caitlyn looked over the faces of Shanna’s friends and realized her sister was attempting to draw her into her family, a family her father didn’t approve of.

“Before you consider anything,” Shanna said with a worried look, “you need to know all the facts. About us.”

The chill returned to tickle the back of Caitlyn’s neck. Her instincts flared. The entrance to the rabbit hole loomed before her, gaping ever wider and enticing her to fall in. As much as she loved adventure, she wasn’t sure this was a place she wanted to go. Her dad certainly didn’t want her involved with these people.

But her sister was here. She didn’t want to lose Shanna again. She didn’t want to lose her niece and nephew. I saw Constantine fly . How could Shanna possibly explain that?

Shanna winced. “I’ll do my best.”

Caitlyn stiffened. “You’re reading my mind.”

C aitlyn took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. Maybe she shouldn’t be so shocked. She was a psychic linguist, so it was entirely possible that her sister had psychic abilities, too.

Shanna motioned for her to accompany her to the refreshment table. “I’m not making a conscious effort to read your mind. I want to respect your privacy, but some of your thoughts are so intense, I’m catching them.”

Caitlyn glanced back at the other women across the cafeteria. They were busily chatting, so thankfully, she could now speak privately with her sister. “You have telepathic powers.”

“I’m usually better at blocking messages than sending or receiving,” Shanna confessed. “But with you, I’ve always had a strong connection. Remember when we were young, and we’d always—”

“Finish each other’s sentences,” Caitlyn said with a sad smile. If their connection was so strong, why did her sister leave her?

“Are you telepathic, too?” Shanna asked.

“I don’t think so. Most of my psychic ability is centered on language.”

“You have a rare gift.” Shanna ladled some punch into two red plastic cups. “When I was at boarding school, I would think of you often and dream about you at night. You were surrounded by snow, and you wore a bright red woolen coat and mittens.”

Caitlyn’s breath caught. From the ages of ten to twelve, she’d worn a bright red coat.

Shanna passed her a cup of punch. “Later on, I saw you in Washington, D.C., then you were back in the snow. A few years ago the dreams changed. I saw white sandy beaches and palm trees. Elephants and tigers.”

Caitlyn gulped down some punch. “I graduated from Georgetown University before joining the State Department. I was stationed at Minsk, then Bangkok and Jakarta.”

Shanna’s eyes glimmered with tears. “I always hoped I was seeing images from your real life. I missed you so much.”

Then why did you leave me? Caitlyn blinked back tears and grabbed a paper plate featuring a red cartoon car. “I don’t know anything about your life. I didn’t even know you had a husband and children.”

“Dad didn’t tell you?”

“No.” Caitlyn put some crackers and sliced cheese on her plate. “He just warned me never to come here.”

Shanna sighed. “Well, I’m glad you did. Thank you.”

Caitlyn took another sip of punch. “Why didn’t our parents come?”

“Mom does whatever Dad tells her to do. And Dad…well, he doesn’t approve of me.” Shanna motioned to some chairs next to the table heaped with gifts. “Did you know Dad works for the CIA?”

“Yes.” Caitlyn set her cup and plate on the table, then took a seat. “I used to think he worked for the State Department, but when he helped me get a job there, he confessed it was only a cover, and that he’d always worked for the CIA.”

Shanna nodded. “For the last six years or so he’s been in charge of a secret group called the Stake-Out team. Emma MacKay used to work for him.”

“Really?” Caitlyn glanced over at Emma, who was helping the baby Jillian eat.

“And another employee at MacKay S and I, Austin Erickson, worked for Dad.”

“Can I ask why they left?” Caitlyn figured it had something to do with her father’s overbearing personality. The thought of having him for a boss was definitely making her think twice about accepting his job offer. She topped a cracker with a slice of cheese and bit into it.

“They couldn’t agree with the mission of the Stake-Out team,” Shanna explained. “Dad’s investigating a group of…people with the ultimate objective of hunting them all down and destroying them.”

Caitlyn swallowed hard as the cracker stuck in her throat. “Terrorists?”

“Some of them are. I know all about it ’cause Dad tried to hire me, too. Our psychic power is inherited from Dad, you know. Our brother didn’t seem to get any.”

“I know, but what does that—”

“Everyone on the Stake-Out team needs enough psychic power to resist mind control,” Shanna continued. “Dad’s enemy has the ability to control minds and erase memories. He considers them a dangerous threat to mankind.”