The End of the Game - 8
"Harold Finch" sniffed Fusco "Was a delusional schizophrenic, ever since he was 16 years old. I've got his medical records around somewhere. He really did think that he was a genius software developer who was friends with a billionaire like Nathan Ingram"
"But he and Ingram built…"
"Ingram's dead" said Fusco "So he can't say either way, can he? Oh sure, Ingram was involved. He fronted to the government like Finch says but it was Thornhill, not Finch, that built the thing with him"
"But I've seen Finch hack into systems and…"
"Oh, that was the Machine doing the hard work. If you'd looked closely you'd see that Finch was basically typing random characters. Whatever he typed would've worked"
"Arthur Claypool remembered Finch from MIT, he…"
"The poor guy had dementia. While the hospital was putting drugs into his body, the Machine was putting memories into his brain. I think it did the same to Finch as well. It's damn clever how it does it; I reckon it could imprint a whole new life on someone if it had enough time"
"Does Root…? Was Root…?"
"Oh no, Root's the real deal, she really was a genius hacker. Luckily she was so wrapped up with the Machine that, so far, she never worked out the whole story. She would have eventually and I kept telling Thornhill to bring her in – she wouldn't really care who built it"
"Fusco, Thornhill is the Machine" said Reese desperately.
"How do you know?" countered Fusco.
"Because Finch said…"
"Exactly, everything you know is from Finch. I've met Thornhill in person many times"
"How long have you been involved in all this Lionel?" asked Reese curiously.
"I was recruited by Ingram right at the start, when he realised he needed someone more familiar with criminals and violence"
"I was with him at the ferry terminal when he went to meet Thornhill. He told me to hang back so as not to spook him, otherwise I'd be dead too. He saved my life I guess, in other ways too. I guess I do all this to try and repay him"
Reese slumped down in a chair, his world collapsing – three of the most important people in his life were all dead within a few hours, the fourth wasn't who he thought he was, and what he thought he knew for the last 5 years maybe wasn't true at all.
Reese recalled a phase that the gang leader Dominic had used a few times "there's always a game within the game". Like one of those Russian dolls – open it up and there's another one inside. But was he in the inner game or the outer game? Did it matter? Just how many damn games were there?
"I gotta say, John" said Fusco "You were a lot easier to work with than that jerk Dillinger. I tell you, if you guys hadn't taken care of him, I was going to off him myself. I warned Thornhill about him but I took no pleasure in saying I-told-you-so afterwards. We decided that we ought to keep an eye on any helpers in future, so we created Finch as a front – previously he was just a name we used. That's why you and the others were never told about me and my role"
"What was the plan, Lionel? Kill me too, like Shaw? Do you know why all this is happening?"
"I'm a good soldier like you, John, just following orders. I'm supposed to take you out to Oyster Bay; I think Mr. Thornhill wants to meet you. Don't know why"
Reese roused himself "Then that's where we'll go, I need some answers"