Silent hand Silent hand 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 Silent hand Silent hand Thanos Kalamidas Thanos Kalamidas An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Silent hand T he rain painted Washington d.C. in smudged charcoal, the Capitol dome looming like a si- lent sentinel above a city that had long forgot- ten the meaning of transparency. Beneath its grand corridors, whispers of power carried more weight than law, and one particular whisper had begun to echo through every chamber, office, and alley of po- litical life: “The Consortium.” Nobody knew exactly who ran it. No official re- cords. No office building. No website. Yet somehow, legislation was passed, careers made or destroyed, because of it. Tonight, Senator Elijah Graves was about to find out why. * * * * * Thanos Kalamidas 10:47 PM — Russell Senate Office Building Graves’ hand trembled slightly as he poured a shot of scotch into a crystal glass. The documents on his desk trembled too, not from wind, but from the fear he’d been swallowing since the envelope arrived. No postage. Just a black wax seal of a lion devouring a dove. He turned to his aide, a young, sharp woman with eyes like surgical blades. “Elena, close the blinds. And lock the door.” She obeyed without question, but her expression darkened. “Senator, is this about...” “The bill. The energy reform act. I said I wouldn’t cave to lobbyists.” Elena crossed her arms. “Then someone else caved for you. We’ve had three voicemails from ‘concerned partners’ warning you to pull the bill before the vote.” He tossed the envelope on the desk. Inside were pictures, his daughter, his wife, and himself. All tak- en from long-range cameras. One had his daugh- ter holding her favorite teddy bear. A red laser dot glowed on her forehead. Silent hand “I swore I’d never be like the rest of them,” Graves whispered. Before Elena could reply, there was a knock at the door. Two raps. Pause. Three raps. She reached for her gun under her blazer. Graves nodded. She opened the door... And in walked nathan Kell , head of the supposed non-profit “Global Unity,” a man known publicly as a humanitarian, privately as a kingmaker. “Nate,” Graves growled. “You’re bold. I’ll give you that.” “Boldness is a requirement when you run the world, Elijah.” Kell smiled. “May I?” He sat without permission, unbuttoning his coat to reveal a tailored suit and a gold pen shaped like a scalpel in his front pocket. “I’ve seen your work,” Graves said. “But I never thought the rumors were true.” Kell leaned in. “You’ve made enemies. Real ones. You think because you chair the Senate Energy Com- mittee you can rewrite the future? No, Elijah. The world needs oil. Needs war. Needs predictability.” Thanos Kalamidas “You threaten my family again...” “No threats,” Kell interrupted smoothly. “Just... in- evitabilities.” * * * * * earlier That Morning — langley, Virginia CIA Analyst Maya Stern had been working on an unsanctioned algorithm that mapped influence net- works based on encrypted financial transactions. And it had spit out something bizarre. One node kept popping up, GU Holdings , a shell arm of Global Unity. It wasn’t lobbying. It was some- thing far darker. A purchase network. Votes, bills, regulators. Bought and sold with surgical precision. She forwarded her findings to one man only: Ju- lian Ryker , her former mentor in clandestine ops, now buried in a cushy diplomatic post in Brussels. Subject line: “Remember Istanbul? Same playbook. Different city.” * * * * * Silent hand Back to Present — d.C. Graves stood now. “I won’t kill the bill.” Kell remained seated. Calm. “You already did. Your aide leaked your affair to the press ten minutes ago. You’ll resign tomorrow, for moral reasons.” Elena blinked. “What?” “Check your inbox,” Kell added. “We traced the leak through your terminal, Elena. You’ve been com- promised since last September.” “No... That’s not possible...” she stammered. Kell’s smile faded. “You were loyal. Until they got to your brother in Nevada State Pen. Now he’s out. Early release, under our program. Coincidence?” Elena’s face went pale. “You used me.” “We use everyone. That’s politics.” Graves reached for his drawer. The old Colt .45 his grandfather carried in Korea. Kell didn’t flinch. Thanos Kalamidas “You think I’m scared to die?” Kell said softly. “We replace you. Like a pawn. Like a fuse. The Consor- tium endures. Always.” The shot echoed through the hall. But Kell didn’t fall. Elena had tackled Graves at the last moment. The bullet shattered a ceramic eagle on the wall. Secret Service would arrive within seconds. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “They have my family.” “You were like a daughter to me,” Graves said, bleeding from his temple after hitting the floor. * * * * * 12:03 aM — Somewhere Outside d.C. Julian Ryker stood in a barn turned server farm. Maya’s data was real. Chilling. “They’ve built an invisible empire,” she said. “And they’re expanding. Africa’s next.” Ryker nodded. “We’ll leak it.” Silent hand “They’ll kill us.” “They’ll try.” * * * * * two days later — national Cathedral A closed casket. Senator Graves had “suffered a stroke” and passed in his sleep. The media reported a scandal. A fall from grace. Elena stood at the back of the funeral, head low, a child’s hand in hers. The boy looked up. “Will they come for us now?” She didn’t answer. As the organ hummed and the eulogies droned, a man in a navy coat stepped beside her. Nathan Kell. “You did good, Elena,” he said, placing a card in her hand. It bore only the lion-and-dove seal. “Don’t fight us. You’ll only lose again.” Then he was gone. * * * * * Thanos Kalamidas Undisclosed Facility Julian Ryker sat in a steel room with a single bulb overhead. Before him: a map. Points marked in red. And Ma- ya’s voice through a speaker. “Are you ready to burn the silent hand?” Ryker cracked his knuckles. “Let’s make it scream.” Silent hand Silent hand 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 Silent hand 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.