The Encounter

By Jacey Holbrand

Evan ‘Zen’ Zenas is the top agent at The Agency and is known for his brusque demeanor. He’s also known to be tough on trainees. Those who find themselves under his tutelage usually don’t last long. When he’s assigned a new assistant, Seth Trivos, Zen’s faced with questions about his past he’s not too keen on answering.

Seth Trivos knew Evan once upon a time, loved him even, but when Evan disappeared, he unknowingly broke Seth’s heart. Now, he’s in Evan’s world as the newest recruit at The Agency, and he’s looking for answers.

Will Zen chase away another new assistant because he doesn’t want to open up about a past encounter or will being forced on a case together make him face the demons he’s been trying to hide from?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Jul 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781771309097

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Published by Evernight Publishing at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2014 Jacey Holbrand

ISBN: 978-1-77130-909-7

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Tricia Kristufek

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

To my partner: Thank you for believing in me. Love you, babe!

THE ENCOUNTER

The Agency, 1

Jacey Holbrand

Copyright © 2014

Chapter One

Zen! Get in here.

Zen rolled his eyes at Chief’s voice booming through the phone intercom and pushed away from his desk. Leaving the comfort of his corner office, he ignored the ooos of his fellow coworkers scattered throughout the low-wall partitioned cube farm. He jokingly gave them the middle finger as he turned toward his boss’s office.

Owen Chief Krantz, owner of The Agency, wanted to see him, and it wasn’t because he was in trouble, as those around him would like to believe. A new protégé was in his future—if his earlier glimpse of the young pup coming to report for his first day of work was any indication.

Another rookie. The Chief loved to give him the fresh fish. He said if the trainees could survive him and his attitude, they could survive anything. He couldn’t argue. The work he did for The Agency was serious, and he expected others to take it the same way. Unfortunately, a good portion of the new employees who came in didn’t. They treated what went on with the cases as a novelty.

Stupid reality shows, making the search for the paranormal, supernatural, and alien existence seem like easy fun. Real people had real issues. They needed to be treated with respect.

Luckily, he did have a way of reading people and cutting through the bullshit, and most people couldn’t handle his frankness. It’s the reason why his boss gave him the newbies. He weeded out the nonserious adventure-seekers. All three fish he had in the past year and a half left The Agency and went on to other careers. When the third left, the guy said he was going to go work in his brother’s kennel—the bitches there would be nicer to him.

So be it. Zen liked working alone.

Chief’s office door stood open an inch. Before entering, he decided to take a moment to assess the situation. Always good to get the lay of the land before stepping into something new. Peering in, he fixed his gaze on the recent hire standing opposite Owen, who was sitting at his desk, and purposely eavesdropped on the conversation.

The new guy was already nitpicking his role at The Agency. His main beef: working with Zen on assignments.

Zen found nothing attractive about whiners, but in this case, the bellyacher happened to be a looker. A fine specimen of a young man: lean, a few inches shorter than himself, with softly tousled, amber-colored hair but still styled, and sun-kissed skin—none of that orange glow from a sprayer—from what he could see outside of his short-sleeved black dress shirt. From the slight prominence of the vein in his neck and the muscles in his forearms, he figured the chap was one ripped and well-defined dude. Too bad he didn’t have a direct line of sight to the front of his beige trousers. He would have liked some idea of what he packed there.

I’ve heard he’s the company ogre. He eats men alive and forces them to quit. The guy shifted a backpack slung over his shoulder.

Zen’s attention snapped out of its musings over the new guy’s anatomy and he froze for a split second. His stomach dropped. An ogre? That’s a new one. He knew he could be a hardass and come off arrogant, but it was only because he approached the cases he went on with integrity. He believed in what he did for a living and what The Agency stood for. But the new nickname? It kind of stung.

Sure. Owen’s deep voice rolled out of the slim opening of the door. Zen can be a bit choleric. But he’s one of the best agents here. As for being an ogre, that’s in the eye of the beholder. I find him endearing and refreshing. It’s great to see someone actually give a shit, and he expects the same from others. But if you think for a moment you can’t handle being his assistant, speak now.

The rookie straightened as if he’d been superglued to a prime piece of four-by-eight lumber. My apologies, sir. I can handle anything and will gladly become his partner.

A soft chuckle escaped Zen’s lips. Partner. Funny. The young pup had a lot to prove before he moved from an assistant agent to his field partner. It wasn’t the first time a new