42.

New York, United States

"SdS?"

At this moment, Phoenix wishes he could see the face of his former associate. But he has to content himself with his groans of pain.

"It's over, SdS."

He watches the electric current indicator broadcast by the nanobots and is tempted to push it past fifty percent. He refrains. He wants to make sure Baltac can hear what he has to say.

"You've lost..."

He glances at Macmillan, who has just hung up his phone, presses the button to mute his microphone, and asks: "Well"?

"It's confirmed," affirms the mercenary. "Fisher has blown up the hideout of your so-called Doctor."

Phoenix displays a triumphant smile and turns his microphone back on. "...and your precious Doctor... He too is dead."

To drive the point home, he adds: "Thank you for leading me to him."

He can hear Baltac's ragged breathing on the other end. Despite the pain, he must be trying to understand how the Doctor was discovered.

"Impossible!"

"Dubitative? It's always the little mistakes..." Phoenix whispers mischievously.

He smiles to himself. He's really enjoying this. A muffled noise fades in his ear. SdS must be struggling. Phoenix places the cursor of his mouse on the nanites' control, ready to finish it.

"Sarah Wessler's phone," he reveals as an explanation.

He truly wants Baltac to understand, to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that he has completely failed. So, he waits a few seconds before concluding. "I win all around... Goodbye, SdS..."

The cursor gradually increases the gauge into the red portion of the graph, then into the black one. Soon, the nanobots' activity indicator goes out, and Phoenix cannot suppress a sigh of relief. Now the path is clear.