What Lurks in the Shadows (short story)

What Lurks in the Shadows
Main character(s):	Tasha Williams
Main enemy:	Hooded figures, Drofen
Main setting:	London, 2019
Key crew
Publisher:	Arcbeatle Press
Editor:	James Hornby, Genevieve Clovis
Writer:	James Hornby
Release details
Part of:	Out of the Shadows
Release date:	12 October 2021
P.R.O.B.E. short stories
← Previous	Nowhere Women
Next →	Out of the Box

What Lurks in the Shadows was the tenth short story in the anthology Out of the Shadows, published by Arcbeatle Press.

Summary

to be added

Characters

• Tasha Williams
• Azacca Dixon
• Maxie Masters
• Agamya Akhtar
• Giles
• Gavin
• Sir Andrew Williams
• Agent Cochrane
• Frank
• George
• Vorshagg
• Alinquos
• Sir Bedevere
• Voltron
• Drofen

Worldbuilding

• Tasha keeps a Glock in her bedside drawer.
• Gavin makes Tasha bacon sandwich.
• Tasha's TV shows a news headline which reads "Sir Andrew Williams responds to recent threats made towards government ministers".
• Tasha wears a leather jacket and jeans.
• Agent Cochrane drives a white Range Rover. He works for Sir Andrew.
• Tasha listens to Alanis Morissette.
• PROBE find a corpse near Hammersmith Bridge.
• Tasha refers to Hannibal Lecter, telling Maxie he's a cannibal from a film.
• Giles has had another budget meeting.
• Tasha says that if they didn't do jobs for the police, their Commissioner would "still be getting probed on some faraway planet."
• Az has been with PROBE for almost three months. Tasha takes him to The Nocturne, an underground bar that caters for aliens, monsters and misfits.
• George is a Draxi.
• The presence of most aliens in the Nocturne is in violation of Galactic Heritage law.
• In the Nocturne, a Vorshagg, despite the presence of its de-aggrifier, carries a heavy weapon. The Gonzie beside it wears clothes coated in blood.
• Alinquos is a Ferrux. He has a Tauran bodyguard.
• The token Tasha finds on the body is of a worm curling around a globe. It's related to perihelion.
• Bedevere once watched Dragonheart. The sight of the friendly dragon in it infuriated him, as he knew them as trecherous creatures.
• Bedevere assures Tasha that a Knight of the Round Table tells nothing but the truth.
• Bedevere has had takeaways from Camelot Pizzas.
• Az tells Tasha that George got the all clear from Dr Dionus on Gulliver's Rest.
• George used the Ryugu Network to get to Earth.
• MI5 have intercepted some chatter suggesting that an attack on London was imminent.
• Taurans are "bull-like fellas; grey fur, big muscles".
• A Drofen killed the human in Hammersmith.
• The hooded figures summon a Voltron, though their incantation should only work on living beings.
• Maxie tracks the van that kidnapped Tasha using CCTV.
• Gavin is drained of all his blood.

Story notes

to be added

Continuity

• Tasha thinks that, after what happened with Archie MacTavish in Manchester, more and more aspects of the job seem to affect him. (AUDIO: What Happened in Manchester) She hopes he can handle the pressure of the threat posed by perihelion. (WC: Shadows of Doubt)
• Tasha got a tip off in the Nocturne which led her to the case at Hanson Solicitors. (PROSE: Preternatural Days)
• Dionus and Gulliver's Rest are mentioned. They first appeared in AUDIO: Eternal Escape.
• Tasha says that her father would have her tucked away in a windowless office in Whitehall if he had his way. Before joining PROBE Tasha worked in an office. (AUDIO: 9 to 5)
• Drofen first appeared in PROSE: The Beast of Stalingrad.

External links

• Official What Lurks in the Shadows page at Arcbeatle Press