Three Shots Thanos Kalamidas Three Shots A Phantom Recorder Chronicle Thanos Kalamidas Ovi ebooks are available in Ovi/Ovi eBookshelves pages and they are for free. If somebody tries to sell you an Ovi book please contact us immediately. For details, contact: ovimagazine@yahoo.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Three Shots Three Shots Thanos Kalamidas A Phantom Recorder Chronicle Thanos Kalamidas An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Three Shots I t was raining again, the kind of rain that drowns city neon in muddy puddles and gives everything a cigarette burn tint. She stood under the flickering sign of the Bluebell Motel , collar high, hat low, hand inside her coat like a poker player hiding an ace or a weapon. No one knew her real name, only that when the final moments came, The Phantom Recorder made damn sure they were heard. And tonight, she had her third. Room 307. David Reiss, former homicide detective turned syndicate ghost, vanished after torching the files that could’ve buried his bosses. Justice skipped him. She didn’t. Thanos Kalamidas * * * * * * Inside the room, Reiss was slow-dancing with a bottle of Wild Turkey and a .38 snubnose. “Not now, sweetheart,” he slurred, not turning around. “I’ve already got one date with regret.” “You skipped that date six years ago,” she said from the shadows. Her voice had the smoothness of a jazz trumpet and the crackle of old vinyl. “I just came to remind you.” The recorder was already rolling, tucked in her lapel. High-quality directional mic. It caught everything: the rain, the tension, the way his glass trembled against the table like it knew what was coming. He turned. His eyes were stormy. “You one of Spector’s girls? Or is this the part where I get to meet God’s stenographer?” She stepped into the flickering light. “You don’t get God. You get me.” He blinked. Recognition hit him like a gut punch. “Jesus Christ... You’re her. The one that sends their final breath out to the whole damn world.” Three Shots “I record what the courts don’t.” She tapped her coat. “And I heard you like to talk before you bleed.” * * * * * * He laughed. A bitter, hoarse sound. “You want a confession? Fine. Pull up a seat, sweet pea. Let’s play sinner and saint.” She didn’t sit. “You know what I remember most about that night?” Reiss went on. “It wasn’t the blood, or the sirens. It was the way my partner coughed while dying. All that loyalty stuck in his throat.” “He coughed your name, David. I have the tape.” He looked up, eyes moist. “Then you know I didn’t want to pull the trigger.” “But you did.” A beat. He poured another drink. “They had my sister. Said they’d send her teeth in a velvet pouch if I didn’t clean the house. I was the broom. They swept the mess.” Thanos Kalamidas “No one forced you to burn the evidence.” “No. That part... that was me.” * * * * * * She stepped closer. The recorder blinked red. “You know,” he said, “when they started calling you ‘The Phantom Recorder,’ I pictured a man. Maybe a bitter ex-cop. Not a dame with eyes like midnight and a voice like jazz on a knife’s edge.” She didn’t smile. “Misogyny’s a hell of a blindfold.” “Fair.” He sighed. “What happens now?” “You have one minute. Say it like the world’s listening. Because it is.” * * * * * * He stared at the microphone like it might bite. Then leaned in. “My name is David Paul Reiss. Badge number 84472. I killed my partner, Jonas Frey, on July 14th, 2019, under pressure from the Vincenti Syndicate. I Three Shots burned the case files on the West Docks trafficking ring. I took blood money. I drank guilt. I killed to survive. And then I just... survived.” He looked at her. “Tell Frey’s widow... I kept his badge. I never could throw it away.” She nodded once. The recorder clicked off. * * * * * * Then came the gun. Fast. Desperate. But she was faster. Three shots. Two in the chest. One in the hand that held the snubnose. He fell like the lies he built his life on. On the floor, he coughed blood and whispered, “Why’d you let me talk if you were gonna kill me anyway?” She leaned close, her breath warm against his ear. “Because sometimes justice needs an audience.” Thanos Kalamidas His eyes closed. * * * * * * She lit a cigarette, dragged deep. Smoke curled like ghosts above the broken man on the floor. Outside, the sirens were already starting. Always late. She stepped into the hall, pulled her coat tighter. Rain hadn’t stopped. It never did. Another soul recorded. Another truth set loose in the static of the city’s radio waves. The Phantom Recorder walked alone again. And the world listened. * * * * * * Aired at 02:11 AM on frequency 103.4 FM. Case closed. THE END Three Shots Three shots A Phantom Recorder Chronicle Thanos Kalamidas Ovi eBook Publishing 2025 ovi magazine Design: Thanos Ovi ebooks are available in Ovi/Ovi eBookshelves pages and they are for free. If somebody tries to sell you an Ovi book please contact us immediately. For details, contact: ovimagazine@yahoo.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Thanos Kalamidas Thanos Kalamidas Three Shots A Phantom Recorder Chronicle Thanos Kalamidas , a multipublished writer, cartoonist and illustrator; born and grew up in a picturesque neighbourhood on the moun- tainside of Hymettus in Athens, Greece. Then his life took him to Berlin, Germany and to London, UK for studies. After a brief stay in Yorkshire he moved his life to Paris, France while working in Tokyo, Japan and in Cape Town, South Africa. In the last 25 years he became a permanent Scandinavian resident and recently, in his glorious sixth de- cade, he moved to a scenic village in the Växjö area.