Free Homeward Bound (Journeyman Book 1) by Golden Czermak Page B

people.”
    “Yeah that's sort of how it works, most of the time,” Adrienne replied, lifting a bit of crispy bacon and teasing it between her teeth. “But it's like a franchise and we sort of have to keep within the lanes of the brand. Mandatory meetings are rare though and normally only happen when a big deal like this is going on.”
    Gage snatched the bacon from her fingers and ate it, rolling his eyes mockingly. “Well shit. Where's the fun in that?”
    Joey chuckled. “No fun at all but I'm sure they'd make an exception for you, after all the action you've seen… and caused first hand.”
    Gage was unamused as he scraped up the last bit of food off his plate. He glanced over to their plates and noticed they had barely begun eating. Slow pokes.
    “Yeah,” affirmed Adrienne. “Maybe you could just conference call in.”
    Joey laughed and actually slapped his knee. “Special exemption granted to the world record holder for the number of ass kickings delivered over the three years since his unofficial induction.”
    “You two can fuck off,” Gage said with a fat finger pointed toward each of them. Yanking his phone from his pocket, he tapped the corner on the table. “Calling in would be just peachy, if only this piece of shit would stay charged. It’s deader than a double tapped zombie… again.”
    “Ugh, no idea what's causing it?” Adrienne asked, shifting from humor to concern. She was still puzzled by the issue, but maybe it was just a simple hardware issue.
    “Other than it being a POS?” he responded. “Nope. I changed out the battery with a spare. No effect. Rebooted. No effect. I'm thinking after I flog on some logs I’ll pop into town and get another one. That way, I can be sure keep tabs on you two bastards and also conference in when the suits call their manda -”
    Suddenly, the sounds of Don’t Fear the Reaper blared from the mobile phone , cutting through through the conversation and suppressing all the sounds in the room.
    Slowly, Gage turned the screen and watched as it continued to ring.
    What the hell?
    There was no telephone number displayed as the screen flashed briefly, followed by several rolling glitches. His thumb hovered over the jittery answer button, but the phone died right as he brought it down.
    Everyone sat quietly.
    “I thought you said your phone was dead?” asked Joey.
    “It was,” said Gage to his reflection on the shiny screen.
    “Well, something’s definitely up. Want me to take a look at it today?”
    He pressed the power button a few times to no avail. “Yeah… sure thing J. Work your magic on it because it’s dead again. Would be nice to know what the hell is going -”
    As if he were being mocked, the phone sprang to life again at full power. The screen jumped around but this time Gage was quick to answer it.
    “Hello? Who is this?” he asked sternly, lifting the speaker to his ear.
    Patiently he waited for a reply, but only the static spoke, accompanied by heavy riffs of bass.
    “Hello!” he repeated again.
    The interference continued as the undertones became more profound.
    “Gage?” Adrienne asked while reaching out an arm. “What do you hear?”
    He pulled his arm back, raising his index finger before placing it into his open ear, listening intensely.
    The base continued to rumble over the static, yet patterns seemed to be forming. Were they words? He continued to listen, closing his eyes in an attempt to block out all other stimuli.
    A few moments later distorted words arose out of the noise, interlaced with bursts of static.
    “Gage… you must…”
    The voice was sharp and deep; the words hurried yet commanding.
    “Who is this?” he demanded.
    “Gage you must… go… Gage you must go!”
    “Wait… where do I have to go?”
    Joey looked over to Adrienne and mouthed, “EVP?”
    “Seems like it,” she whispered. “But there’s no way a ghost could be here at the Lodge.”
    “This is really weird,” Joey muttered as they