Cold warmer Thanos Kalamidas Cold warmer 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 Cold warmer Cold warmer Thanos Kalamidas Thanos Kalamidas An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Cold warmer T he USS Barracuda, a Virginia-class nucle- ar attack submarine, cut through the frigid black depths of the Arctic Ocean like a silent spear. Beneath a roof of centuries-old ice and above a seafloor of unmarked secrecy, it moved, unseen, un- heard. Commander Jack Mallory, a 38-year-old naval prodigy with steel-gray eyes and a reputation for brilliance bordering on insubordination, stood in the command center like a coiled spring. His hands were tucked behind his back, and his eyes were locked on the sonar display. Thanos Kalamidas “Report,” Mallory barked. “Passive sonar picked up anomalous cavitations, sir. Not natural. And not ice,” said Petty Officer Diaz, squinting at the screen. “Show me,” Mallory ordered. Diaz zoomed in. The display shimmered, then highlighted a curious pattern—vibrations too rhyth- mic for marine life, too deep for surface vessels. “It’s originating from here, grid Juliet-Bravo-Sev- en. We passed this sector four days ago. It was quiet then.” Mallory tapped the screen. “Back us up. Go to silent running. I want eyes on that point in thirty minutes.” The crew jumped into action. The Barracuda de- scended deeper, slicing through layers of ancient water pressure with practiced ease. The steel hull groaned faintly in protest, as if whispering secrets. * * * * * Cold warmer Twenty-Eight Minutes Later “Captain,” whispered the sonar tech. “We’ve got... a structure.” “A what?” “A fixed structure. Sonar bounceback shows smooth surfaces, reinforced geometry. Not geologi- cal.” Mallory’s heartbeat thudded once, hard. “Up periscope. Infrared on.” The screen flickered, then burst into shades of blue and red. There it was—visible through a fracture in the ice: a vast, hexagonal installation embedded directly be- neath the Arctic sheet, surrounded by what looked like... submarine pens. A covert base. Russian. Mallory inhaled sharply. “Jesus. How the hell did they build a city under the damn North Pole?” No one answered. The silence said enough. Thanos Kalamidas “Get a snapshot of everything. Comms, relay to NAVSEC. Use the Black Ghost burst.” The Black Ghost transmission was a top-secret pro- tocol, an encrypted, ultra-low-frequency burst that could penetrate ocean depths and ice, relaying classi- fied information directly to the Pentagon. They uploaded the files. “Message away,” said Lieutenant Hanna, her voice tense. Mallory nodded. “Now we back out, quietly...” A sudden ping cut the air. Active sonar. “They know we’re here!” yelled Diaz. “Two bogeys approaching! Fast!” On the display, two Typhoon-class Russian attack subs were bearing down like sharks with blood in the water. Mallory spun. “Full evasive! Countermeasures!” The Barracuda turned sharply, releasing a cluster Cold warmer of noisemakers that flared like underwater flares. A torpedo screamed past, missing them by feet. “Fire aft tubes!” “Torpedoes away!” The explosion rocked the deep. One Russian sub lit up like a firework, disintegrating into a rising col- umn of bubbles and shattered steel. But the second one K-317 dodged and retaliated. “Second fish incoming!” The torpedo struck the Barracuda’s flank with a deafening CRACK . Alarms screamed. The sub tilted hard, lights flickering. “Damage report!” “Hull breach in section Bravo-4! Compartment sealed. No flood... but propulsion’s crippled.” Mallory gritted his teeth. “We’re dead in the water.” Outside, the K-317 circled like a vulture. Then, the unthinkable: a voice on the internal com- ms, not American. Thanos Kalamidas «Командир Маллори. Мы вас видим. Спасения нет.» Translation: “Commander Mallory. We see you. There is no escape.” * * * * * Back in Washington, D.C. Admiral Julia Freeman stormed into the situation room, files in hand. “He’s found it. Mallory’s message came through. We have confirmation. They’re building weapons un- der the goddamn Arctic, missile silos, stealth drones, even orbital intercept systems. This isn’t a base. It’s a launch platform.” The President stared at her, pale. “We’ve got a Russian ICBM base under the ice, ca- pable of hitting every NATO capital without warn- ing.” A long silence followed. “Do we still have contact with the Barracuda ?” Cold warmer “No,” said Freeman. “They’ve gone dark.” * * * * * Back Below the Ice Inside the damaged submarine, Mallory looked up from his seat. The hull creaked with the weight of death. “Options?” “None.” He looked at the reactor technician. “How bad would it be if we went critical?” “Chernobyl bad, sir.” Mallory nodded once. “Set the timers. Ten min- utes. We’ll turn this tin can into a funeral pyre and take that installation with us.” Lieutenant Hanna’s eyes widened. “Sir, that’s...” “Illegal, reckless, suicidal. Yeah, yeah. But it beats handing our playbook to Moscow. They wanted si- lence under the ice? Let’s give them a bang they’ll never forget.” Thanos Kalamidas The team moved quickly, grimly. Eight minutes in, Mallory opened a secure file on his tablet. A personal message recording. He tapped record “This is Commander Jack Mallory of the USS Bar- racuda . If you’re hearing this, it means the truth got out—and so did we. Or maybe not. Doesn’t matter. All you need to know is this: they came to our door- step with a dagger made of ice. We just snapped it.” He looked up at his crew. Every eye was on him. “Gentlemen, it’s been an honour.” The lights flickered once. Then silence. * * * * * Three Days Later Satellite feeds showed a two-mile-wide rupture in the Arctic sheet, ice blackened, water boiling, no trace of any structure remaining. Russia denied ev- erything. So did the U.S. Official reports cited an undersea earthquake. Cold warmer Unofficially? A ghost sub vanished beneath the ice, and with it, a secret war narrowly avoided. As for Jack Mallory? Some say he died a hero. Others say he’s out there, somewhere beneath the cold, still watching. But in the Pentagon’s deepest vault, Mallory’s final message sits, marked Top Secret: For Eyes of the Pres- ident Only. END Thanos Kalamidas Cold warmer Thanos Kalamidas Ovi eBook Publishing 2025 Ovi magazine Design: Thanos Cold warmer 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 Cold warmer 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.