Just as Riley was contemplating whether he'd ever see sunlight again, he heard voices outside his room.

' - tried every language I know and he fell asleep,' a woman was saying. 'I'm sorry I couldn't be of more assistance.'

'It's no trouble at all. We'll find some way to communicate with him.' The inspector's voice, though Riley detected a suppressed sigh. Something told him that whatever the inspector had just experienced, it was not 'no trouble at all'.

His impression was confirmed when the door opened. The inspector looked dishevelled, almost ragged. And unless Riley was imagining it, his hair seemed thinner than when they'd last met. Wasn't 'tearing your hair out' just a figure of speech? What exactly had happened in the other room?

'You.' No, the inspector definitely did not sound pleased. 'Talk to your friend.'

His friend? Then Riley saw what he hadn't noticed before. Behind the inspector, escorted by a guard, was Koda. He was beaming.

Beaming?

'Riley! You have bracelet too!' Koda looked positively delighted. He held up his wrists - and his handcuffs snapped. The guard beside him sagged slightly.

'Look, we're down to our last pair of handcuffs. You seem like a nice guy. I don't know how you do it, but will you please stop doing that?'

Koda looked puzzled. 'Okay.'

The guard blinked. '"Okay"? That's it? Why didn't you stop breaking them earlier?'

'You not ask.'

The inspector made a stifled sound, like a cat being strangled. Riley cast a confused frown in his direction. At this distance, he realised he hadn't been imagining it: there really was a small bald patch on the inspector's scalp.

'That's our equipment budget for the year, sir. Permission to get the last pair?'

Riley saw the inspector take a long breath and release it. He had the sudden premonition that he was in the presence of a volcano about to erupt.

'Just get their things.'

Three puzzled faces turned to the inspector. Riley didn't understand. Why would they need their things unless they were getting released?

Koda seemed equally confused.

'You letting me go? But you say you send me home.'

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say.

'Out! Just get out! I don't know what you are, but I never want to see you again!'

'Letting suspects off so easily, inspector? Getting soft in your old age I'm afraid.'

Riley never saw someone change colour so fast.

'Madam Ward! Wh-what brings you here today?'

'I heard you detained two suspects for questioning about acts of terrorism at the airport bus station. Thought I'd pop by for a look. I am most interested to hear that you've decided to release them.'

The inspector paled even further. Riley remembered the day Chase first learned to grind on his skateboard. He had gotten on everyone's nerves by showing off on every surface in the museum, until Tyler had dared him to grind along the lab countertop in the base. Chase, unfortunately, had taken up Tyler's dare just as Ms Morgan walked in.

Watching the inspector cower now, Riley couldn't help being reminded of Chase before Ms Morgan.

'I'm sorry for my outburst, madam. I was conducting the investigation and got, uh, momentarily frustrated. I will resume questioning them.' He hesitated. 'This investigation is well within my capabilities. It's really not necessary for you to be here.'

'Don't be silly. I'm sure you're doing a magnificent job with the investigation unit, but as head of airport security, it's my job to know what goes on in my department.'

This lady - or the head, as she called herself - reminded Riley of Shelby. In age and appearance she could have been Shelby's older sister. But there was also a gleam in her eyes that said she was used to getting her way.

'Come on now, what are they charged with'?

The inspector had apparently decided there was no use resisting. There was a look of resignation on his face as he told her.

'Terrorism and possession of a deadly weapon. Right.' She wrote something on the notepad she was holding. 'Okay, where are the guns?

'I'm sorry?'

'Where… are… the… guns?' She repeated, enunciating each word as though speaking to a five-year-old.

'I, uh -'

'You detained them at the crime scene and you couldn't find the guns?'

Had Riley cursed their morphers being guns? For once he was glad the Dino Morphers only materialised when they needed them. But security had taken his Energem, so he couldn't summon his morpher even if he'd wanted to.

Pity they'd taken his phone as well. He would have given anything for a photo of the inspector's current expression.

'Well, you can't charge them for possessing a deadly weapon unless you can find the weapon, can you?' She made a cross on her checklist. 'No guns. Alright. Witnesses?'

The inspector perked up. 'The witnesses, they were all on the airport shuttle - '

' - which means that by now they're all out of the country. Unless you thought to detain them?'

Silence again. Riley was starting to like that sound.

'You did assure me this case was "well within your capabilities", inspector.'

But wait, didn't the inspector have a trump card? No matter who she was, she couldn't get around the CCTV footage. The footage that showed him and Koda shooting four people in broad daylight.

The inspector reached the same conclusion at the same time.

'I have proof of their crimes. Right here!' He pointed to his laptop. Riley watched, heart sinking, as the inspector played the video he was all too familiar with.

The head regarded the video for a long time.

'I will defer to your judgment, inspector. But in my experience, it is quite unusual for the victims of a terrorist attack to be standing outside the building where their shooters are arrested, demanding that they be released.'

She made a cross on her checklist again. 'No victims.'

The head nodded to the guard beside Koda. 'He was telling you to get their things? Go on.'

The inspector looked as though he couldn't process what he was hearing. 'You - you're letting them go?'

She turned to face him. 'Was that not your decision?'

The inspector didn't dare to disagree. 'But what about the video?'

'You are holding these two young men for shooting the people in the video, yes? I do believe I passed this lady and the three gentlemen on my way into the building. They were standing outside the gates, raising quite a racket. Certainly the most vigorous victims of a shooting I've ever met.'

She paused. 'Unless you are suggesting they were shot with magic dinosaur friendship bullets.'

The head turned and caught Riley's gaze for the first time. Riley thought he saw her wink.