Page 59 of Broken Princess

13

Logan

My heartbeat thunderedin my ears as I stared at Rowan, eyes wide. “What did you just say?”

“I think Willow is alive.”

I sat down again, every muscle turning rigid. “How?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to explain,” Rowan said. “It’s a long story, and you need to hear all of it to understand.”

“Well, maybe lead with ‘Willow is alive’ next time,” I said, minutely shaking my head. “Jesus, man.”

“Sorry,” he said, face reddening slightly. “Anyway, you know the missiles we were just talking about?”

“Uh-huh.”

He brought up a video on his laptop screen. “I know you don’t want to watch the plane exploding again, but you should,” he said, nodding at it. “Just so I can show you.”

I leaned in close. “Fine.”

“See that white flash before the plane actually blows up?” he asked. “It only lasts a fraction of a second, but it’s huge.”

“Yeah.”

“Watch it slowed down.” He leaned over the keyboard and typed again. “Focus right there.”

I squinted at the screen to see a split-second of electric blue amongst all the bright white during the brief flash.

“What is that?” I asked.

“It’s a signature of the MBS2 missiles,” he said. “So I think these guys online are right—the plane was definitely brought down by an MBS2.”

I nodded slowly. “Okay. And?”

“Those missiles are pretty rare because they’re so expensive. They’re known to have been purchased by a few rebel groups and terrorist organizations over the last year, though. Most notably the HGI in Afghanistan, the CLF in Angola, the FIN in the Congo, and a small insurgent group in Myanmar.”

“Right.”

“So it’s most likely that one of them brought the plane down, right?”

“I guess.”

Rowan lifted a brow. “Thing is, that doesn’t make sense. The Keshari royals get along with the Angolans and Afghans, and they’ve never had any issues with the Congo or Myanmar either. So why would anyone from any of those places shoot down the Crown Prince’s plane?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe someone else bought one of those missiles recently.”

A knowing smile turned up the corners of Rowan’s lips as he brought up a Wikipedia page for a multinational corporation called Halliwell. “You’ve heard of these guys, right?”

“Yeah.”

Halliwell was one of the largest oil field service companies, offering a wide range of products and services to oil and gas customers throughout the world. On top of that, several of their engineering subsidiaries created and sold military weapons and technology for the US government, along with their allies.

One of the subsidiaries had been involved in numerous controversies over the years for allegedly selling weapons to terrorist groups that had specifically threatened the US before, including a couple of the groups Rowan had previously mentioned.

“What about them?” I asked.

“They manufacture MBS2 missiles,” he replied. “Anyway, guess whose family owns most of the corporation?”