CHAPTER 67

"So… what's the plan?" Tory asked. Miguel looked at her and shook his head.

"I don't know, Tory. I really don't. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Emily might be alive." Miguel murmured.

"Yeah, I can't even imagine how you're feeling right now, but remember we need to think fast." Tory said. "Every day Emily is with Silver means another day of her in horrifying conditions."

Miguel took a deep breath, forcing himself to compartmentalise all of the shock, guilt and everything else he was feeling, and he nodded.

"Yeah, you're right." He said. "So… the plan."

"Right. Do we go to the cops?" Tory asked. Miguel thought for a moment and shook his head.

"I don't know about that. Think about it…" Miguel started. "If we go to the cops, the first thing they're going to ask is for proof."

"Well, we have proof, don't we?" Tory stated. Miguel winced.

"Not quite. We have the word of a teenager who's currently on probation for attempting to kill someone. Not the most reliable of sources."

"Yeah? Well fuck you too." Tory snapped. Miguel raised his hands in surrender.

"Look, I'm not trying to insult you or anything. I believe you. I just don't think the cops will." Miguel stated. "Besides, another thing is that if Silver catches wind that you went to the cops, that puts you, your family and even Emily at risk."

Tory nodded and put her head in her hands.

"Fuck, you're right." She murmured. "So what the hell are we supposed to do?"

Miguel shrugged.

"Only thing we can do. We find her ourselves." He stated, a lot more confidently than he actually felt. Tory couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Tory asked, disbelievingly. Miguel sighed.

"Don't have much of a choice, do we? Besides, we're two very capable, smart people. We can do this." Miguel said, his mind already whirring with all of the various plans they could try to try and find Emily. Solving puzzles were very much Miguel's forte but the stakes had never been higher than they were now. They couldn't screw this up.

"Alright, let's do this." Tory nodded. Miguel smiled and rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Right. So… first things first, I think we're going to need help." Miguel stated. Tory nodded.

"Yeah. But I'm not working with any Miyagi-Do. I don't trust them not to just immediately go to the police and put my family and my life on the line for what could be no help from them." Tory stated. Miguel nodded, though he wasn't happy. He understood where Tory was coming from, but at the same time, he knew that they desperately needed help.

"Fine, but likewise I don't trust anyone in Cobra Kai won't just snitch to Silver and then Silver knows we're onto him and kills Emily." Miguel said.

"Alright, but that leaves us with… no one." Tory said. "Fuck we're screwed, aren't we?

Miguel didn't respond. He was deep in thought, and had just thought of someone who he knew could be of massive help to them. He smiled faintly.

"Okay, how about this? I've got a friend, not a Miyagi-Do, not a Cobra Kai. Honestly doesn't give a shit and a half about Karate. I KNOW she will take a leap of faith if I ask her to and keep all of this a secret. Oh, and she's also the smartest person I know so she'll definitely be of huge help to us."

Tory looked at him, torn. She was uncertain. On one hand, she knew that there was no way in hell they were pulling this off without any help, but on the other, she knew that everyone they brought into their plan, especially people Tory didn't know on Miguel's side, risked putting her family at risk. Eventually, she asked…

"What's her name?"

20 minutes later, as Tory and Miguel were busy planning what they were going to do to try and find Emily, they heard the doorbell ring. Miguel smiled. It must be who he had called and Tory reluctantly agreed to let help them. A neutral. Not Miyagi-Do, not Cobra Kai, but someone who cared about Emily almost as much as Miguel did. Miguel opened the door and smiled at her.

"Hey, Miguel." She said, giving him a hug. She had absolutely no clue what was going on, or what Miguel and Tory were about to tell her.

"Hey, Mary…"

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"Okay, so let me get this straight… Emily is alive?" Mary stammered, in shock.

"Mm hmm." Miguel nodded.

"And she's in the custody of a madman?" Mary continued. Miguel winced and looked down, the words stabbing him in the chest, agonisingly painful just to hear.

"Not for long." Miguel murmured. Mary nodded, taking in everything she was being told.

"Riiiiight. And remind me again… why aren't we going to the cops like literally everyone else would?" Mary remarked. Tory scowled.

"Silver has friends in the highest and lowest of places. Not only does he have friends like the ones that captured Emily, but I know for a fact he has many friends in the LAPD. If he catches wind that the police are investigating the accident, he'll come after me and my family and no police protection would be able to stop him."

"Yeah, so we're going to find her ourselves. Tory and I came up with a plan." Miguel said. Mary raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"We were thinking… what if we start from the exact point where the accident happened, and then spread out and search the forest in a circle?"

Mary thought about this and raised an eyebrow.

"That's fine, but what if Silver decides to, you know, take Emily ANYWHERE in L.A that isn't the forest?" Mary commented.

Miguel lapsed into silence and shook his head.

"I don't know. You got a better idea?" Miguel asked, hoping and praying that Mary could pull something out of her incredibly intelligent hat. Luckily, she could. Mary nodded.

"Yeah, possibly." Mary murmured, before taking out her phone from her pocket and opening the phone case, taking out a weird looking chip and handing it to Miguel. He looked at it and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, before handing it to Tory.

"What's this?" She asked, just as confused as Miguel.

"Well, Miguel, you know how I'm always losing my phone?" She said.

"Yeah, so?" He mumbled.

"Well, recently, I decided to buy this. It's basically a tracker. You're meant to put it in your phone case or wallet to be able to track them if you lose them. I'm supposing that we put the tracker on…"

"Silver." Tory finished. Mary nodded.

"Exactly." She stated. "Silver's a pretty old man. Cobra Kai are spending most of their time training. Both of those things lead me to believe that Silver isn't going very many places in his free time. So when he does go to different places, the chip will record it and every little while, we look at every address the chip has gone to and note them down and investigate them and hopefully at some point…"

"He leads us to Emily." Miguel murmured. Mary nodded and Miguel smiled widely. "Mary, that's brilliant!"

Mary shook her head.

"I don't know. This could so easily go wrong in so many ways." Mary said.

"But it's a start, and it's the best plan we've got." Miguel stated. "Wait… how are we going to get this chip on Silver in the first place?"

Mary shook her head.

"We don't put it on him. We put it on his car. Much less chance of him finding it." Mary said. Tory nodded.

"I'm on that." She said. Miguel nodded.

"Awesome, thanks Tory." He said. "Alright, one more thing… you mentioned that we're going to record wherever Silver goes. How are we going to do that without anyone getting suspicious? Like what if they see us together? Mary and I might hang out a lot together, but you and me aren't exactly common to see together."

Tory shrugged.

"I don't know. We can work at my house, and if anyone on my side catches us together, I'll tell them that you and I are fucking and I'm going to dump your ass right before the All-Valley to crush you mentally."

Miguel raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"That sounds kinda harsh." He laughed. "But yeah sure, let's use that as an excuse if Silver finds out. But what about if a Miyagi-Do catches us?"

"I don't know. Just tell them similar I guess. Tell them you and I are hooking up, and what we do behind closed doors is none of their business." Tory stated. Miguel laughed and shook his head.

"Yeah, no I'm not gonna do that." He said.

"Why not?"

"Well, in case you haven't realised yet, you aren't exactly the most popular person to Miyagi-Do. They find out I'm hooking up with you and they're surely kicking me out the dojo."

"Seriously?! Which one's more important to you, getting Emily back, or staying in a karate dojo?" Mary remarked. Miguel looked at her and realised how stupid it sounded and he nodded.

"Fair point. Alright, let's do this…"