Peril in the Smoky Mountains


 
 
 
 “There’s something you should know, Will.”
 Will stiffened, the angry panic shooting through him. What could Taylor possibly say to make things right? Here they were, stranded in the middle of nowhere, with no chance of reaching his daughter, Andi—and Taylor somehow managed to find humor in the situation?
 “That mudslide did the trick. It threw us to the other side of the river, where Andi is.”
 Face burning, Will ducked his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually lose my cool like that. I never intended to scare you.”
 “It’s okay,” Taylor said softly. “You’re worried for her. I understand.” A look of surprise moved through her expression. “And you didn’t scare me.” Her blue eyes met his. “I’m not afraid when I’m with you.”
 The weight of Taylor’s admission hung in the air between them. Something in her tone—awe or wonder, maybe?—unsettled Will. He watched her face, an ache spreading through him at the wounded vulnerability in her eyes...
 
 
 Peril in the Smoky Mountains
 April Arrington
 &
 Karen Kirst
 2 Thrilling Stories
 Smoky Mountain Danger and Targeted for Revenge
 
 
 
 Table of Contents
 Smoky Mountain Danger by April Arrington
 Targeted for Revenge by Karen Kirst
 Excerpt from Alaskan Mountain Search by Sarah Varland
 
 
 Smoky Mountain Danger
 April Arrington
 
 
 April Arrington grew up in a small town and developed a love for books at an early age. Emotionally moving stories have always held a special place in her heart. April enjoys collecting pottery and soaking up the Georgia sun on her front porch.
 
 
 Be strong and of a good courage...for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee;he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 
 —Deuteronomy 31:6
 
 
 For Billie Ann.
 
 
 Contents
 CHAPTER ONE
 CHAPTER TWO
 CHAPTER THREE
 CHAPTER FOUR
 CHAPTER FIVE
 CHAPTER SIX
 CHAPTER SEVEN
 CHAPTER EIGHT
 CHAPTER NINE
 CHAPTER TEN
 CHAPTER ELEVEN
 CHAPTER TWELVE
 CHAPTER THIRTEEN
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN
 EPILOGUE
 
 
 ONE
 Will Morgan, wrapped around his daughter’s finger from the day she’d been born, had caved in to her requests often over the years...but he’d never agreed to anything as unpredictable or potentially dangerous as a weeklong journey down Tennessee’s wild and scenic Bear’s Tooth River.
 “It’s not too late to turn around, you know?” Will palmed the steering wheel of his truck and eased around a steep curve, the engine rumbling louder as the truck ascended the steep mountain. “We could drive back down the mountain, call Jax and tell him we changed our minds. Spend the week at one of the campgrounds we used to go to.” He glanced at his daughter in the passenger’s seat. “You used to love fishing at Badger’s Crossing. We could be there within the hour, if you’d like?”
 Andi, staring ahead silently at the bluet wildflowers lining the curving road in front of them, turned her head and locked her brown eyes with his. “I knew you’d try to back out.”
 Will flexed his jaw and returned his attention to the road. Drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, he sifted carefully through his thoughts for the right words. “I’m not backing out. I’m merely suggesting—”
 “That we back out.”
 He stifled a sigh. Since Andi had hit her teens, every conversation with her had become a potential land mine, and when she’d turned seventeen two months ago, prying more than five words from her at a time had become almost impossible. Until Jax Turner, a sixty-year-old river guide and family friend, had mentioned he planned to lead a new tour of the Smokies down the rarely traveled white water of Bear’s Tooth River.
 Andi had latched on to the idea and had pleaded with Will for over a month to reserve the two seats still available on the one raft Jax, who ran a small business of river tours, had advertised. Jax’s river trip had been the one and only topic she’d allowed him to broach with her without stoic resistance.
 “The last thing I want to do is back out, Andi,” Will said quietly. “I’m just concerned about the river. Jax has only run it a couple times and I’ve never run it at all. It’s risky, and I don’t like the idea of not knowing what lies ahead.”
 She continued staring at the road, her mouth barely moving as she spoke. “Then I don’t understand why you agreed to it in the first place.”
 That was easy, Will thought, slowing the truck as they reached the mountain’s summit. “Time.” He eased the truck over to a small graveled clearing, parked between a large SUV and a small sedan and cut the engine. A broad river flowed several feet in front of a large boulder that served as a drop-off point. “I wanted to spend time with you—to talk, to laugh, to just enjoy each other’s company again for once.”
 Andi’s mouth tightened. “You could have that anytime, if you didn’t work every single day.”
 “Someone’s got to pay the bills,” he said quietly. Pay for construction jobs wasn’t steep nowadays, but the gigs were easy to come by and he needed every one he could get to put Andi through college in another year.
 “I know. But what good’s a house if no one’s ever in it when you come home?”
 Will closed his eyes, a fresh surge of guilt moving through him. “Andi—”
 “Besides,” she said, “you don’t always know what lies ahead, anyway.” She looked at him then, her eyes meeting his, then roving over his expression. “You didn’t know Mom would walk out on us, did you? And even when you did, you couldn’t stop her.”
 Will drew his head back at the anger flashing in her wounded eyes. It’d been sixteen years since his wife, Heather, had left him and abandoned Andi, and he’d hoped the passage of time would help ease Andi’s pain. Instead, Andi’s anger had only increased—as