Double Game Double Game T ha n o s Ka l a m i da s 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 Double Game Double Game Thanos Kalamidas Thanos Kalamidas An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Double Game T he rain was unrelenting, a rhythmic tapping against the blacked-out windows of the un- marked car parked two blocks from Capitol Hill. Inside, Agent Marcus Vale of Homeland Strate- gic Counterintelligence stared at the encrypted tablet in his hand, the green text flickering ominously. Subject: Priority Red Target: Orion has breached Executive Tier. Directive: Immediate containment. Operate inde- pendently. Trust no one. He exhaled slowly. His gut had warned him for weeks. Now the data confirmed it, Orion, the code- name for the elusive foreign operative embedded within the highest tiers of American government, was real. And active. * * * * * Thanos Kalamidas “I want names,” the President growled, pacing the Oval Office like a caged animal. “Not rumors. Not shadows. Names.” National Security Advisor Elaine Trevors stiffened. “We don’t have names, Mr. President. What we have is a trail—digital signatures, partial comm logs, back- door financial anomalies.” “Then follow the damn trail,” he snapped. “Before we’re speaking Mandarin in these halls.” Marcus sat quietly near the window, watching the exchange. His presence had not been requested—it had been ordered. Trevors knew him from two black ops missions ago. She’d vouched for his discretion. The room reeked of cigar smoke and power. He cleared his throat. “There is a name.” Everyone froze. Marcus slid a dossier onto the desk. The name on the cover chilled the room like a sudden draft. Senator alistair morrow. * * * * * Double Game Two weeks earlier, Morrow had introduced legis- lation subtly aimed at reshaping foreign intelligence protocols. A benign-sounding reform bill, buried under layers of legal language—but it granted un- fettered access to intelligence databases to a newly formed ‘Oversight Committee,’ chaired by himself. No one had thought to question it. Until now. * * * * * “That’s impossible,” Trevors whispered, eyes scan- ning the dossier. “Morrow’s a war hero. He bled for this country.” “So did Benedict Arnold,” Marcus replied dryly. * * * * * Flashback – brussels, 2004 A rooftop deal. An informant named Geller whis- pering through broken teeth: “Orion will be Ameri- can. That’s the brilliance. He will wear your flag, eat your food, and destroy you from within.” Back then, no one believed Geller. Now, Marcus wished they had. Thanos Kalamidas * * * * * By morning, Marcus had broken into Morrow’s Senate office. He bypassed biometric locks with a field tool disguised as a fountain pen. Inside, it was clean- er than a surgical table, except for a locked drawer. Inside it, a phone. Not American. Encrypted. Russian military-grade encryption. And a note: —Deliver to Ivanov at midnight. Do not delay. Ivanov. That name again. * * * * * later – Safehouse, arlington Elaine paced the length of the concrete floor. “This is bigger than Morrow.” “I know. That’s why we need to make it public. The people need...” “No.” Her voice cracked. “We do this wrong, we fracture the Republic. The moment we accuse a sit- ting senator of espionage without airtight evidence, we risk civil unrest.” Double Game Marcus hesitated. “Then we bring him in.” “We can’t. He’s got eyes in the Agency, in the NSA, in the Vice President’s own office.” That was the moment Marcus felt it: the betrayal was deeper. “Wait. Say that again.” She didn’t need to. He saw it in her eyes. “You think the Veep...” “I think nothing,” she hissed. “But I don’t trust him either.” * * * * * White House – 3 Days later It should have been a press briefing. Instead, it was a funeral. The President’s motorcade had exploded on Constitution Avenue. Marcus arrived just in time to see the chaos. Smoke. Screaming. And Morrow—calm, unflinching, with soot on his tie, addressing the press: “We will not bow to fear.” Thanos Kalamidas It was the speech of a patriot. Delivered by a traitor. * * * * * underground Facility, baltimore Rain again. Marcus leveled his weapon at Morrow, who stood framed in the humming light of the data servers. “You sold out your country.” Morrow’s lips curled. “I upgraded it. You think the republic was ever built on truth? This country runs on secrets. I just gave the higher bidder access.” Behind them, screens blinked with data exfiltration protocols. Russian, Chinese, North Korean. Every file classified since 1952 was being dumped offshore. “You won’t make it out,” Marcus said. “I don’t have to.” He pressed a button. Self-destruct. Double Game Marcus ran forward, tackling Morrow, but too late. The countdown screamed from the wall. * * * * * Twenty minutes later The explosion rocked the eastern seaboard. The facility gone. Morrow’s body incinerated. Marcus, thrown into a drainage canal, unconscious. He woke up three days later in a private hospital. Elaine was gone. No records. No message. Just a let- ter. “Sometimes the country demands silence more than justice. You did what you could. We won’t forget. – E.” A year later, Marcus stood outside Arlington, star- ing at a gravestone with no body beneath it. alistair morrow – Patriot. Traitor. Ghost. A second marker stood nearby. elaine Trevors – loyal to the end. It was empty too. Thanos Kalamidas He turned and walked into the rain, wondering if truth had a place in a world built on lies. THe eND Double Game Double Game 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 Double Game T ha n o s Ka l a m i da s 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.