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He appeared to cut himself off for a moment, before continuing on in a stiff, hesitant voice. “Sir, James Eyre has escaped. We might have been able to take him down on the street outside, but the risk of civilian casualties was too high. They hit us with a decoy attack while going for the cells, and we didn’t make it down there in time to stop them.” He paused, and Robb could hear his almost imperceptible sigh. “We failed, sir. I’m sorry.”

Robb didn’t consider it a failure at all. Of course he would’ve preferred it if James hadn’t escaped, but avoiding civilian casualties, and civilian knowledge of shifters’ existence in general, was something that he’d drilled into his team. They’d acted exactly as he’d trained them to.

The lyrebird opened its beak.

“Well, that’s about the standard I would expect from you,” it said in Robb’s voice. “I don’t know why I chose you to hold the fort while I was away, though I guess you were the best choice out of a bad bunch. I trust I don’t even have to tell you how disappointed – to say the least – I am. In you personally, but also all of you in general.”

There was silence on the other end of the line, with even the background noise and general chatter suddenly dying down.

Aghast, Robb strained to hear any sort of response from Euan’s end.

Eventually, it came.

“… Understood, sir.”

The dingo howled with rage.

Hargreaves will pay. They will all pay.

The dingo’s sudden descent into bloodthirstiness was unsettling, but Robb couldn’t say he didn’t understand it. If it hadn’t been for his current bound and gagged state, he might’ve been doing and saying some pretty out-of-character things himself – and he didn’t want to regret his actions later.

He knew what had happened to Euan after he’d let his marsupial lion’s rage get the better of him after the death of his partner – the lion’s rage had been unstoppable, and in order to keep in check and prevent more bloodshed, Euan had had to push his shifter form down so far inside of him that it had taken him years to re-learn how to shift. And Robb just couldn’t take that risk: if he wanted to get out of here, he needed to keep the option of shifting open.

Letting his dingo lose all control just wasn’t something he could allow.

I’ve got to take my inability to act as a blessing of sorts, strange though it may be, he thought grimly. I have to keep my head.

There were some rustling noises from the other end of the phone, and then Hector’s voice came over the line.

“Robb? I know we stuffed up, and we’re sorry. But we could really use your help about now. The whole place is trashed, Brooke’s trying to deal with a bunch of injuries, and the other detainees have to be kept secure until repairs are completed.”

There was another series of indistinct noises that long experience told Robb was probably Rhys trying to grab the phone off Hector, and then Hector continued, “We’ve got the worst of it under control, but right now, the whole place is in shambles while we try to sort out what’s going on. And the whole building is in complete lockdown. No one’s going in or out for a long time. There are people coming in from other offices to help out, but we could really use your advice on a few things.”

The lyrebird somehow shrugged at that, apparently getting into its act.

“You probably should’ve thought about that before you did such an incredibly poor job,” it said. “You can’t just come crying to me now and beg me to fix it for you.”

Despite everything, Robb couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed.

Is that really how people see me? he wondered. Do Hargreaves actually think that that’s how I act? I mean, I know I’m not the friendliest of bosses, but I’m not a complete dick.

… I hope, anyway.

Rhys had apparently succeeded in wrestling the phone off Hector, because his voice was coming through loud and clear.

“Who are you, and what have you done with Robb?” he demanded. “Seriously, what is this bullshit? And where’s Callan? Put him on.”

Rhys was closer to the truth than he knew – and maybe some of the others were starting to pick up that there was something unusual going on, because the confused murmurings in the background were beginning to sound concerned, rather than indignant.

Anne seemed to have picked up on it as well, because she caught Bruce’s attention and drew a finger across her throat, clearly signaling to him to wrap it up.

“Sort this mess out yourselves,” the lyrebird snapped. “You’re grown adults. If you can’t work it out, then you’re not worthy of your jobs.”

Anne hung up, looking a little less pleased than she had a minute ago. Robb felt a small surge of hope – his team hadn’t fully bought Bruce’s act.

Despite her obvious irritation, Anne smoothed over her expression once more.

“Do you see what we can do?” she said. “We can ruin your life in ways you never expected. Even though we didn’t have to do that, we chose to do so anyway. Because we could.”