THE GREENE FILES

Part 4: Nobody is who they say they are

A flurry of voices whispered past Thomas's ears. The steady beat of a heart monitor told him he was likely in a hospital or had some medical attention.  Although his head was pounding and begged for him to go back to sleep, he found the strength to crack open his eyes just a bit. A blurry outline of a figure approached where he lay and Thomas felt his pulse quicken. "Thomas? It's okay you're safe now, relax. You don't have to worry about a thing. Clarke has you on the best treatment we can offer. Dr. Allard knows what he's doing; Clarke wouldn't have called him if he didn't. Elias's serene voice faded off and was replaced by a younger feminine one. "Thank you for saving Elias, mister. I love him a lot and was devastated when he got taken away." The voice paused and Thomas could hear the sound of a book cracking open. "Do you want me to read to you about bunnies?" The child's gentle voice trailed off and Thomas felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness.

Davies sat at a table beside Clarke's pool on the patio, sipping his morning coffee while typing on his computer in front of him. He set his coffee down on the table and smirked, "Bingo." He dug into his pocket, pulling out his phone to call Clarke. He knew Clarke wouldn't be pleased if he was interrupting his meeting—Clarke was in Switzerland discussing with potential investors of the "fitness" company— but he knew he would be forgiven when Clarke heard what he found out about Greene. Clarke didn't pick up by the third ring, so Davies left a message; Clarke would definitely hear it, he was sure of that. He left the pool area in search of Thomas, whom he believed was still sleeping in one of the downstairs spare bedrooms of Clarke's massive penthouse apartment.

He walked in and was met by the sight of Thomas sitting upright and wary. Davies shooed away the bodyguard who was keeping watch over Thomas and walked towards the bed. Thomas's eyes followed Davies, calculating each movement. "Looking better already, hm? Looks like your face has begun a lovely deep scarlet; better than the ugly plum purple of last week. Daresay we're on the mend aren't we?" remarked Davies. Thomas said nothing and continued to stare wearily at the man in front of him.

"You know," said Davies after a while, "I looked you up; you're apparently wanted all over Europe now. The owner of that hotel you worked at in Berlin is absolutely seething about the money you took from him. I find it quite amusing though." Davies sat down on the chair beside Thomas's bed and crossed his legs. "I found something really interesting in particular; your real name. See, it's a bit fuzzy. You've taken quite a few but most recently you were a Mason White? So what are you hm? Mason White or Thomas Greene?" Davies pulled out a passport and waved it in front of Thomas. "The owner of the restaurant was kind enough to tell us where you were staying so we fetched some things, you know. To see if you are who you claim to be." He walked towards the door, "Clarke will want to see you when he comes back." He left and Thomas closed his eyes, falling quickly back to sleep.

When Thomas woke up the next morning—he slept through the whole afternoon the other day–he was greeted by one of Clarke's bodyguards who led him to a hallway that opened up to a foyer on the second floor.

Thomas walked into the foyer and saw Clarke lounging on one of the couches with a large german shepherd on his lap that he was petting leisurely. In his other hand, he held a book that Thomas could not recognize from where he stood. When Clarke noticed that Thomas had walked in, he looked up and gave a wide smile that exuded amiability. Thomas felt that it looked strange on his face, especially knowing what type of character he was. Clarke stood up and greeted Thomas, "Well then, look at you! Feeling better already?" Thomas brought a hand to his face gently, "Yes." He distinctly remembered what he had to go through to stand where he was now. His mind wandered off to weeks before the present.

Anthony had sat down with Thomas and explained his plan to him. He pushed a passport across the table where they sat and Thomas stared at it in confusion.