Summer of Jonnor

The Taylor Stratagem

"You look grumpy as hell, dude," Ian said to Jude. 

"My boyfriend has been abducted and is being held for ransom, I didn't sleep at all and Taylor and Sophia have been in that bathroom for over half an hour. What could they possibly be doing in there?"

"I don't want to think about it," Ian said dryly.

Jude sighed and sat down on the floor. "This has been the worst twenty-four hours of my life." He felt so anxious and awful inside. And yet...it must be so much worse for Connor. At least Jude had his friends with him. Connor had nobody. Jude bit his lip. Unless, of course, Miguel was there. Had Connor been right about seeing him, down by Bay West? Had Miguel followed them back here somehow? Was he the reason why Connor was in this mess? It wasn't like Jude to hate anyone, and he truly didn't hate Miguel. It just seemed like Miguel was trouble right from the start. Not that Jude thought it was Miguel's fault at all, he was just a boy caught up in terrible circumstances. Whether by good intentions or bad, he had gotten Connor and Jude caught up in those things too. Jude remembered Lena talking to him about Connor's dad during the time Adam was still homophobic, and how hard it must be for Connor to be growing up with all that judgment around. But Adam had come around in due time and now he was a supportive dad who accepted Jude and Connor as a couple and had even moved beyond that to help and support other kids. It was something Jude was appreciative of, and he resolved to himself that whatever Miguel's story was, he wasn't going to surround his thoughts about Miguel with judgment, especially when he didn't even know the all the details.

The bathroom door finally opened, and Sophia and Taylor came out, wearing matching sport coats, black blouses, dark pants, Vans and black backpacks. Jude stood up. "I thought you two were never coming out of there."

"Sorry," Taylor said. "Sweep plan was a bit more complex than I thought. Don't worry—Sophia's done a super job. We have floor plans of all the buildings and a step-by-step for clearing each one of them. Let's get you boys wired up. Ian, you'll be standing by as getaway and backup. Jude, you're coming in with us."

"Wired up?" Jude asked. Taylor got something out of her backpack. She put an earpiece in Jude's right ear and then dropped the wire down inside his shirt. She fastened the receiver to his pants and connected the wire.

"Testing,"

Jude nodded. "I hear it."

"Now, these also have haptic driver units in them. As we're executing the sweep you'll feel three taps to go left and five to go right." Taylor pressed a button on her unit and Jude felt the subtle vibration in his ear.

"Got it," he said. "Three to the left, five to the right." He watched as Sophia hooked Ian up and they did another round of testing.

"Let's roll," Taylor said. She, Sophia and Jude followed Ian out the door to the Tesla and they all got in. The warehouse area was only fifteen minutes away by bike, so it took even less time to drive over there, in mere minutes they were where they needed to be. Sophia indicated to Ian where he should park and wait for them.

Jude, Taylor and Sophia got out, Taylor and Sophia slinging their backpacks over their shoulders. "Is it right for us to be getting Ian involved in this?" Jude asked Taylor, as he got the skateboards out of the trunk and handed one to Sophia, one to Taylor and kept Jesus's.

"That's why he's staying here. He'll be far enough out of the operations zone to not get caught up in anything. Not that he isn't down for it. After Sophia talked to him I think you could say that he's totally a Jonnor shipper too."

Jude smiled. "Jonnor shipper? Is that like a new class of people or something?"

"And we're all in it," Sophia said. "You two have one of the best love stories I've ever seen. That's why it's so exciting to be getting Connor back—so you two can be back together again!"