Puppetmaster’s lament PuPPetmaster’s lament 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 Puppetmaster’s lament Puppetmaster’s lament Thanos Kalamidas Thanos Kalamidas An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Puppetmaster’s lament T he storm rolled in over Washington like a prophecy; dark, brooding, inevitable. Inside a room guarded by silence and cen- turies of power, senator evelyn rhodes leaned over the polished mahogany table of her office, her fingers trembling as she traced the signature at the bottom of the leaked military funding bill. “It’s his mark again,” she whispered. Her chief of staff, alan, frowned. “The same clause... diverted funds through that front in montenegro.” she nodded. “Which means he’s still watching. still pulling the strings.” alan exhaled sharply. “The Puppetmaster.” * * * * * Thanos Kalamidas two days earlier, the halls of Capitol Hill had bus- tled with the clamor of debates, but beneath the scripted outrage and camera-friendly outrage was a private game being played. a game crafted by a man the world thought long dead. Lucien marlowe. Former diplomat, ex-intelligence asset, and of- ficially declared deceased after a fire consumed his mediterranean villa fifteen years ago. But to those in power, especially the corrupted few who owed their fortunes to him, Lucien was very much alive, an in- visible hand in every clandestine deal. He watched now, through surveillance feeds no one knew existed, sipping black tea from a cracked porcelain cup in an anonymous D.C. brownstone. On the screen: senator rhodes, passionate and in- corruptible. The last obstacle. Lucien’s voice was soft, like velvet soaked in ven- om. “she’s getting too close.” a man beside him, bulky, eyes like boiled stone, checked his phone. “Want me to handle it?” Puppetmaster’s lament Lucien stared at evelyn’s determined face. “No. she still has a part to play.” * * * * * evelyn stood before the senate committee two hours later, her voice laced with steel. “The funding redirected to shell corporations un- der executive Order 2879 is illegal. This committee demands full transparency and investigation.” Chairman aldridge, old and grey as a vulture, gave a faint smile. “senator, your passion is admirable, but we must prioritize national security...” “National security has become the justification for anything , hasn’t it?” she snapped. “even treason.” From a seat near the back, a lean figure in an ex- pensive suit tapped his ringed finger against his knee. Quiet. Calculating. Lucien’s agent, the one evelyn trusted. Congressman Julian Voss. * * * * * Thanos Kalamidas That night, evelyn sat alone in her apartment, red wine untouched, eyes scanning encrypted docu- ments on a tablet. Her hands paused over an email signed only with one letter: “L.” RHODeS YOU’Ve alReaDY lOSt. Her phone buzzed. a private call. she answered. “I know what you’re doing,” she said. The voice on the line was aged, deliberate. “You always were the brightest in the room, eve- lyn. Just like your father.” she froze. “You knew him?” “I made him,” Lucien said. “and I ended him.” The line went dead. * * * * * In a parking garage off H street, evelyn met with alan. “He knows everything. my father’s death, it wasn’t suicide.” Puppetmaster’s lament alan nodded gravely. “We have a location. The signal triangulated to 2427 Pine street. He’s here. In D.C.” They drove in silence. sirens in the distance. The city never truly slept, it whispered. They kicked the door down just after midnight. empty house. No Lucien. Just a wall of photos— rhodes, Voss, aldridge. even alan. “What the hell is this?” evelyn murmured, touch- ing her own face on the wall. a projector flickered on behind them. Lucien’s image, blurred by age and shadows, filled the room. “I warned you, evelyn. I admired your father. I loved him, even. But he crossed me. as you now do.” alan pulled his gun. evelyn turned to him slowly. “No...” “I’m sorry,” alan said, eyes clouded with something between shame and duty. “I always told you I served the office. I never said which one.” Thanos Kalamidas * * * * * Gunshot. It missed. she ducked, tackled him. The two wrestled across the floor until her knee connected with his jaw and he crumpled. sirens. real this time. When she looked up, Lucien was gone. The projec- tor dead. The house on fire. * * * * * Weeks passed. Investigations launched. arrests made. Julian Voss disappeared during a hunting trip in maine. aldridge resigned quietly. But Lucien was never found. Not truly. until the day a brown envelope arrived on evelyn’s desk. Inside: a photo of her as a child, sitting beside her father... and a man behind them, hand on her shoulder. Lucien. she turned it over. scrawled in a hand she now rec- ognized: Puppetmaster’s lament “You were always meant for the stage, evelyn. I just gave you the spotlight.” That night, evelyn stood before the press, blood- shot eyes and trembling hands. “I’m stepping down from office effective immedi- ately.” a reporter shouted, “Why, senator?” she smiled sadly. “Because no matter how many strings you cut, the shadow never truly fades.” * * * * * In a dark corner of a Paris café, Lucien folded the paper, tucked it beneath his coat, and smiled wistful- ly. “You played well, evelyn,” he murmured. “But not every puppet wants to be free.” He left behind a note and a Polaroid of her as a senator. The note read: Thanos Kalamidas “even marionettes dream.” and beneath it, scrawled in faint ink: —l. tHe enD Puppetmaster’s lament Puppetmaster’s lament 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 PuPPetmaster’s lament 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.