Page 17 of Robb

Tahnee looked up at him, her mouth stretched in a broad grin, her eyes shining, her whole face aglow with excitement, and Robb knew that he was absolutely done for.

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” she exclaimed, giving the croc one more kick for good measure.

Robb barely refrained from rolling his eyes, disappointed with himself for even considering such a juvenile gesture. He’d spent years in charge of his team without giving away a single sign of exasperation, despite the fact that it was often richly deserved – but now that his mate was here, it was like every thought he was having was desperately trying to claw its way either onto his face or out of his mouth.

Control yourself, the dingo spat, though it didn’t seem quite certain of itself either.

Robb coughed as he attempted to clear some of the mist from his lungs, its sickly-sweet smell seeming to coat the inside of his mouth.

It was a shame, really. He’d always loved musk sticks as a secret guilty pleasure – occasionally going so far as to put some in the lolly jar in the office, pretend that he didn’t know who had put them there, and then stealthily eat the stale leftovers a month or two later under the pretext of Well, somebody has to eat them so that they don’t go to waste – but now, he didn’t think he wanted to eat one for a long, long time.

“Come on,” he said, still on edge. “We need to go.”

It was true – the croc was making short work of the remains of the umbrella, and despite looking bleary-eyed and a bit the worse for wear, it was still obviously more than capable of coming back for round two. Until Robb and Tahnee regained the ability to shift, it was going to be an incredibly uneven fight.

“Fine, fine,” she sighed, and Robb would’ve bristled, if not for the smile on her face that completely overrode all his usual defense mechanisms and left him completely disarmed.

This really isn’t good. I have to get a hold of myself.

“Wait,” Tahnee said, as the croc continued to shake its head around – clearly, it wasn’t too bright.

Now, Tahnee – we have to go now, Robb was on the verge of saying, as she dashed back to the croc, unwinding her long scarf from around her neck.

While the crocodile was still distracted by the umbrella, she wound the scarf around its tail, which was also thrashing, albeit a little more limply than its frantically waving head. She then tied one end of the scarf into a secure knot around its tail, and then tied the other end to a metal railing.

A scarf isn’t going to do much good, Robb thought – but then, as he watched, Tahnee leaned down, pressing her hands to the fabric of the scarf.

Is she – Robb thought, his eyes widening as he watched her. Surely she can’t be –

But, it seemed, she was.

There was a brief flash, and then the scarf wasn’t some green-checked fabric anymore, but rather a knotted bar of solid gold, fastening the crocodile where it was.

“I’d like to see him get out of that without opposable thumbs,” Tahnee said as she strode toward the mouth of the laneway with way too much of a casual air for someone who had just turned her back on an angry crocodile, even if it was one that currently had its mouth lodged open and was stuck to a railing with a scarf Tahnee had just turned into solid gold as if it was nothing.

What an irresponsible use of such a power, his dingo said huffily – though Robb had to wonder if it was just trying to cover up the fact it was a little impressed with Tahnee. And he had to agree – on both counts.

“And what happens when someone finds that fortune in gold just lying around?” he asked, as Tahnee took her triumphant place by his side.

“Then it’ll be someone’s lucky day,” Tahnee responded, in what Robb was sure was an entirely too flippant tone.

Robb opened his mouth to say something – what, he wasn’t exactly sure – but the words died away in his throat.

Because, emerging from the last remnants of the yellow mist, was a woman.

She was small and scrawny, her limbs thin and her hair bedraggled – but her stride was purposeful, her eyes narrow, and Robb knew better than anyone that appearances could be deceiving.

“Run,” he said, his voice low and urgent.

Tahnee’s eyes widened as she looked over her shoulder, her mouth opening questioningly – but before she could register the threat, Robb had grabbed her and flung her bodily down the laneway, launching her into the air. He knew her well enough to know that she would land on her feet – her agility had helped her to effect some pretty spectacular escapes from him in the past, after all – and he didn’t care if the act wounded her pride, or pissed her off.

Because the woman in the alley was now moving at a sprint, faster than would’ve seemed possible – and now she was launching herself into the air –

And now, apparently, she was shifting into a great white shark. An airborne great white shark, that was approaching him with great speed and a wide-open mouth.

That is not the agent I would have assigned to a land-based case, Robb thought inanely… although, he had to admit, it was going to be a pretty effective tactic if he didn’t get a wriggle on. Because all he could do was stare at that enormous mouth that he was pretty sure could swallow him whole, not to mention those blood-red gums and rows of pointy, serrated teeth…

He supposed that survival instinct must’ve kicked in at some point, because he was moving again – but not fast enough, his eyes fixed as they were on the enormous shape rapidly descending toward him. It was going to be a close-fought thing, and he urged his legs to move faster, his eyes to unlock from the cold, dead gaze of the shark.