Some Guys have all the Luck

Disclaimer: We do not own the Matrix, the Matrix owns us.

Authors Note: This is a story that smithsbabe65 and I decided to co-write, for we felt that there were entirely too few stories out there that featured Brown and Jones as the main characters in them. We haven't forgotten Smith—he is in this story, but mostly as a secondary character.

So for all you Brown/Jones fans out there, rejoice, for at long last, the two subordinates of Smith will have their moment in the sun and step out from behind Smith's shadow!

As always, please read and review! The story is rated "R" because there will be explicit adult situations in later chapters and things will get very steamy….

lllll

"Oh my God, he's here!" shrieked the receptionist to Lara's right. "Is my hair OK? I knew I should have worn it up. Do I have lipstick on my teeth?"

Lara Rodgers sighed and tried to force herself to get back to matters that were truly important, like the still-untyped memo that had been given to her earlier that morning by her good friend, Celia, who also worked in the secretarial pool. Both of them had been working at the Agency Building for several years but unlike Lara, Celia had found her employment challenging but rewarding.

The enthusiasm of the girl next to Lara could only mean one thing: Agent Smith, the leader of the agents, was on his way to work. And if hewas coming, then that meant that Agents Brown and Jones were with him.

Unlike most her female co-workers, Lara was not infatuated or attracted to Smith in any way. Agent Jones, however, was a different story. While the other women gazed and drooled over Smith, Lara's focus and subtle covert glances always went to his largest subordinate. Even baby-faced Agent Brown had his following of female admirers but to the best of Lara's knowledge, no one but herself had ever given a second thought to Agent Jones. Even though he was a very fine specimen of manhood with a barrel chest and broad shoulders, he was always overlooked, fading into the woodwork as soon as Smith or Brown entered the same room.

Lara sighed as the enthusiasm in the room built up to almost a fevered pitch. That meant that Agents Smith and Brown were on their way upstairs, ready to give out the day's assignments. Accordingly, Lara's fellow co-workers were already jockeying for the best position to see and be close to Smith.

She rolled her eyes as Smith came into the room. He swaggers in here as if he is some goddamned rock star or the Mainframe's gift to women, Lara thought disgustedly. She watched in disdain as her co-workers flocked around him, chattering and noisily trying to engage his attention. How can he stand all the obsequious butt-kissing, she wondered. But then again, he probably lives for it--his ego is probably as big as the Mainframe itself.

"Excuse me," a soft-spoken male voice said at her elbow. "When you have a moment, could you prepare this for me, please?"

Lara turned her attention from Smith and looked up into the eyes of Agent Jones. She had never seen the largest of the agents without his customary dark glasses and his eyes were fascinating and alluring at the same time. Lara found that she could not turn her gaze away from the gorgeous green eyes that gazed back at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Agent Jones, I was distracted," she said, hastily fumbling for the most plausible excuse for gawking at Jones' superior. Damn, she cursed herself, now he probably thinks that I am another one of Smith's groupies, ogling him from afar with the rest of these other giggling, bird-brained nitwits

"I will get right on that, Agent Jones and I will bring it to your office as soon as I am done," Lara stated, her professionalism restored in a wink and she tried not to blush when Jones gave her a small smile of appreciation.

She took the file from his hand and for the briefest moment, their fingers touched. Lara felt her cheeks burn; she glanced up at Agent Jones and was surprised to see that he was as discomfited as she was. A presentiment that he just might feel the same way about her entered and left her head just as quickly. He is not interested in me. I am certainly not attractive enough to ever engage his attention except on a professional level, she thought despondently before concentrating on completing the task that he had given her. She glanced up but he had already left her cubicle.

Opening the file, Lara sighed as she rapidly perused its contents with her hazel green eyes. Just as expected, it was another set of the neat and orderly pages of Jones' field notes from the night before She could never understand why he felt the need to have her proofread his reports. They hardly ever needed corrections or editing of any kind. Yet, over the many years she had worked for the agency, she actually looked forward to receiving his paperwork nonetheless. In fact, Lara didn't mind in the least, if it meant that she could have some form of contact with Agent Jones.

Setting the file down on her desk, Lara reached down and pressed the button that turned on her computer. The familiar humming from the hard drive sputtering to life helped to muffle the sound of Agent Smith's gaggle of female admirers. When prompted to, Lara depressed the keys of her keyboard rather loudly as she logged on to connect to the mainframe network. Without too much trouble, she accessed the appropriate file and with a double click of her mouse, she began to work at an efficiently speedy pace.

"Hey girl, did you check out Brown? He's looking mighty tasty today, don't you think?" rang out a familiar voice.

Lara, who was completely immersed in her work, was slightly startled at the sound of someone speaking to her. With an annoyed groan, she tore her eyes from her computer screen to look upon the saucy face of her co-worker and best friend Celia Alvarez. Lara sighed to herself. It was usual of Celia to interrupt her like this, but Lara had known for a long time of her friend's partiality toward the youngest of the three agents and her penchant for bringing up his name whenever she could.

"Celia, can't you see I'm busy? Unlike you, I don't have time to be making googly eyes at Brown or any other agent for that matter. Besides, you should be ashamed of yourself: Agent Brown is hardly old enough to shave!" Lara teased, but then became serious. "I have to get these reports done so that Agent Jones can send them upstairs to the old man," she curtly informed her friend.

"Ah yes, the old man, by the way how is Archie these days?" Celia asked nonchalantly.

"If by 'Archie' you mean the Architect, then I wouldn't know. Ever since his divorce from the Oracle, he's become a sort of recluse, like Howard Hughes--only without the weirdness. He hides out in that office of his all the time surrounded by hundreds of TV monitors and sees no one, not even his three top agents."

"Shame, because he was a real hoot at last year's company Christmas party. Remember how drunk he got after Smith spiked the eggnog?" Celia asked.

With a sly smirk, Lara replied, "Oh yeah, I how could forget? But the best part was when the Oracle found him in the janitor's closet with the blonde bimbo wearing that red dress. You know the girl I'm talking about, the twit from the accounting department."

The memory of that night made them both giggle as the vivid recollection of their CEO with his pants around his ankles, hair dishevelled and red lipstick smeared all over his face came to mind. It was priceless.

As the two friends continued their sniggering at the Architect's expense, neither girl noticed that an agent had quietly moved into their vicinity.

"Don't you two have anything better to do than gossip? Ms Alvarez, I believe you still have some considerable filing to do, do you not?" seethed Agent Smith's unmistakable baritone.

His angry tone had instantaneously squashed the jovial chitchat between Lara and Celia.

With downcast eyes, Celia managed to croak out, "I'm sorry sir, I'll get to the filing right away."

"See that you do," he said menacingly. With that being said, Celia made her way to the file room as fast as her long shapely legs could carry her. Lara couldn't help but notice that in spite of his angry countenance, the scowling head agent still took the time to cast a leering glance at her best friend's retreating backside.

After Celia had disappeared from his sight, Smith then turned his attention to the mousy-looking secretary still seated at her desk and said, "As for you, Ms…"

That jerk, Lara thought miserably, he's forgotten my name again! You'd think that after ten years of working for him he would have the decency to know who I am!

Rolling her eyes, Lara knew that he would probably never remember. It wasn't that she wasn't a good and loyal employee; it was the fact that to someone like Smith she was totally invisible. The truth was that Agent Smith was a vain and superficial program that thought that a woman should be an ornament on his arm, nothing more. Judging from his taste in female companionship, the best the Lara could ever hope to be is the little pine tree shaped air freshener that hangs on people's rear view mirrors.

I'll never be someone's ornament. If a man can't accept me for what good Lord gave me then he's not worth having, she thought defiantly. I won't stoop to the level of some of these stupid girls I've seen him with. Botox Barbie dolls is what they are, all pumped up with silicone and collagen just to catch Smith's attention. And what do they get for all their pain and suffering? A one-night stand with that asshole then tossed out the next morning on their ass without even cab fare!

A small shiver of revulsion ran up her spine at the thought of even having that creepy Agent Smith touch her. Lara suddenly felt a desperate need to get him out of her cubicle. His looming presence made her feel even more claustrophobic in the already crowded and small workspace.

Lara quickly told him her last name for the umpteenth time, "…Rodgers, Agent Smith. Lara Rodgers."

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Agent Jones was in a pensive and reflective mood. Absently, he twiddled his pen between his fingers, deep in thought. He had been, albeit unsuccessfully, trying to keep that morning's encounter with Lara at bay but to no avail.

Cut it out,he thought to himself. By the way her attention was focused today, she has her eye on Smith. She hardly even noticed me, I am sure of it. But I, on the other hand, cannot say the same.

Lara was not what a man would call even moderately pretty or attractive, but she had qualities of her own, both internal and external, that stood out nonetheless to the largest of the three agents.

Quit thinking about her,he admonished himself glumly. Whenever Smith is in the room, I might as well be invisible. Angrily, he threw his pen like a dart across the room and watched with dismay as it shattered the only window to his office. Shit.

Jones sat for a long time staring out of his broken window. Buck up pal,he thought. At least you will see her again; after all, she has to bring your report back. Not long afterwards, he heard gentle and quick footsteps coming down the hall towards his office. He straightened his tie and twitched his jacket into order just in time to see Lara knock on his door lightly.

"Agent Jones? I have your….what happened to your window?" Lara asked, concerned and surprised. She glanced at the broken shards of glass that lay scattered on the floor. "Are you all right?"

Because Jones' office was not big, Lara felt dwarfed by being in close proximity of the large agent in such a small room. To her, it seemed that he dominated any room that he was in, regardless of the size of it. Lara bent her head down and she was glad her hair partially concealed her blushing face.

"It's all right, Ms. Rodgers, I will fix it later." If I didn't know better, he thought, I'd swear that being here with me is making her nervous. Like most petite women, perhaps she is intimidated by the closeness of large men like myself. Why? I'm not going to hurt her. Or, perhaps she is nervous because she is shy? On seeing the window, she did ask if I was all right, he recalled with a flash. Was she concerned that I might be hurt and more importantly, would she care if I had been?

He never got the chance to pursue that line of thought further for just at that moment, Agent Smith stopped at the doorway. "Jones," he said, "I need to have the report of our last assignment now." His cold suspicious gaze shifted from Lara to Jones. Like scolded children, they stepped away from each other and Lara hastily thrust the forgotten document she had been holding all this time into Jones' hand before scurrying out of the office.

Smith's eyes narrowed. If I didn't know better, he thought, I would swear that something was up with Jones and that woman. Normally Smith would have passed her by without a glance, but he recalled that she had been the only one out of all the secretaries that had not responded in any way to his presence that morning.

Jones shot an angry glare at his superior from behind his dark sunglasses. It's just like Smith to saunter in where he's not wanted, Agent Jones thought furiously. He wanted to tell Smith off in the worst way for running Lara off, but then thought better of it. This was not the time nor the place for such a confrontation. Smith's time would come, Jones was sure of it.

Extending his arm towards Smith, Jones offered him the file folder he had just received from Lara. "Here you go, sir. Lara, uh I mean, Ms Rodgers just brought me the report you require."

Damn, Jones recriminated himself, I almost slipped up. Agents never address agency employees by their first name, it wasn't proper protocol.

Agent Smith coldly ripped the manila folder out of Jones' outstretched hand and began to scrutinize the report inside for himself. After a few agonizing moments of silence, Smith looked up from the documents he was reading and gave Jones a small nod of satisfaction.

"Everything appears to be in order, just be sure that in the future you hand over your reports in a timelier manner. Is that understood, Agent Jones?"

Simmering with pent up rage, Jones tightly balled up his fists. He would love nothing more right now than to punch the smug smirk off Smith's rugged face and knock him right on his ass. However, there were other pressing matters to attend to. Giving Smith a quick nod, the hulking agent said, "Yes sir, I understand perfectly."

"Good," Smith said with an imperious tone, and then as he turned to walk out of Jones' cramped little office his sharp eyes fell upon the shattered window.

"What happened here, Jones?" he asked, curious to hear what lame explanation his oafish subordinate would come up with this time. Jones was known throughout the agency to be accident prone and clumsy. He was the largest and strongest of the agents, but he was not the brightest. He was all brawn and no brains and because of this, he didn't know the power his own strength. Smith had stopped counting all the times that Jones damaged agency property due his carelessness.

"Well Jones? I'm waiting," hissed the leader of the Matrix's agents.

Jones started to feel very uncomfortable as he scrambled to think of a plausible reason to explain why there would be a shattered window on the seventieth floor of a government building. The collar of his shirt suddenly felt ten sizes too small, so Jones started to tug at it in an effort to loosen the constricting garment.

Smith's eyes narrowed into two sapphire slits full of suspicion and loathing, his patience was wearing thin.

Finally Jones gave Smith his answer, "I'm sorry, sir. I was cleaning my weapon when it had accidentally shot off a round."

"I didn't hear a gun shot, agent," countered Smith with a challenging timber in is voice. Jones was lying, he just knew it.

Jones quickly answered, "I had the silencer on so no one could hear the gun go off."

A quick scan from Smith's visual sensors confirmed his suspicions; Jones did not have any trace of gun power residue on his person.

I knew it, Smith thought triumphantly. He is dumber that I thought. How could he think that I would believe such an outlandish mistruth? If he is lying about something as trivial as a window, what else could he be hiding? Perhaps there is something going on with him and that secretary that was in here earlier. What's her name, Lana or Linda something? Whatever it is he's trying to hide, I'll discover his secret soon enough. It is inevitable that he will slip up sooner or later.

"Very well Jones, see that it does not happen again. Have the maintenance department send someone up to repair this mess," he instructed.

Then glancing at his Rolex watch he said smoothly, "I am meeting someone for lunch, so I will be out of the office for a couple of hours. Could you try not to bungle things up in my absence?"

Agent Jones fought the sudden urge to walk over to Smith to tear him limb from limb. You prick, he thought. You really think you're something special because all of those bimbos in the secretarial pool. They wouldn't give you a second glance if wasn't for your fancy car and all that cash you flash around. The truth is: without the car, the money and the penthouse apartment, you're nothing more than just another balding, middle-aged program going through midlife crisis!

When Agent Smith finally vacated his office, Jones was full of rage and frustration. With an angry grunt and all of the strength he could muster, Agent Jones punched one of his powerful fists through what remained of the window, shattering it completely.

Fuck it, he thought to himself. Maintenance is going to replace the entire window anyway. It's on the company dime, so what do I care?

Angry with himself for allowing Agent Smith to get the better of him, Jones needed time to recompose himself. After many months of admiring Lara from afar, he finally had gathered up the courage to try to ask her out on a date. Today was the day, and he would now allow anything or anyone to louse up his chances with Lara, not even a supreme dickhead like Smith.

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In mid afternoon, Lara had had to take some of the more important files she had completed encrypting to the vault, most inconveniently located on the fifty-third floor. Usually Lara only had to take the elevator up to the seventieth floor where she worked and back down again at the end of the day. In fact, she took the stairs more often than not; it was no hardship for her to go up and down at least twenty flights of stairs in a day.

Lara grumpily accepted the fact that the elevator would be the fastest way to get to her destination before the vault was closed and locked down for the night. The elevator ahead of her was starting to close its doors. If I hustle then I can make it, she thought.

"Hold the door!" she called out, hoping the person inside would hear her and oblige. A large hand stopped the doors from closing at the last second and Lara hastened her step so that her saviour would not have to be inconvenienced by holding the doors open any longer.

She said a breathless 'thank you' to the man who had prevented her from having taking the stairs. "Thanks for holding the door, I really appreciate it," she said, relieved.

"No problem, Ms. Rodgers," came the reply. She turned around and looked up at the man who was the sole occupant of the elevator car. It was none other than Agent Jones. It appeared that he had been on his cell phone just as she called out and recognizing her voice, Jones had tucked his phone into his jacket pocket.

"Oh!" Lara squeaked and almost wished she had missed the elevator. Oh for heaven's sake, she chided herself, he's not going to bite. An image of his mouth on hers raced through her mind, causing the inevitable blush that spread over her face. With a loud clank, the elevator car began trundling its way upwards. Lara was shaken when the lift suddenly stopped between floors.

"Why did we stop?"

"When more than one human is unplugged at a time, the power drain affects our elevators for some reason," Jones said knowledgeably.

"How long does it usually last?" Lara asked, becoming more nervous with each passing moment. She hated elevators and did not try to take them too often. The walls always seemed to close in on her, making her afraid.

"It depends on how fast the Mainframe can shunt power to another capacitor to compensate for the loss. It might be a few minutes, though." Jones noticed that Lara swallowed and he caught the frightened look on her face. It was similar to the expression he saw on a rebel who had been cornered and had no way out and he felt sorry for her.

"Are you claustrophobic?" he asked quietly.

Lara nodded, but she was not brave enough to look at him. Most people usually laugh at me when I say that, she thought. At least I am not alone in here or I might be clawing at the doors to get them to open and let me out.

"I just hate being closed in this, that's all. Oh no!" she said fearfully. To add to her dilemma, the lights had gone out leaving only the dim security lighting in its place.

Something big in the Mainframe must have crashed or power would have been restored by now, Jones thought. But right now, his main concern was calming Lara down. Thinking she might be more at ease if he appeared to take this in stride, he loosened his tie and removed his sunglasses.

"We may be here for a while longer, so we might as well get comfortable," he said, lowering his large frame so that he sat on the floor. "Why don't you sit down too?"

Realizing that she could hardly continue standing there staring at the closed doors that would not open just because she wanted them to, she followed his example, primly adjusting her skirt as she did so.

Jones noticed that she still appeared to be scared. She was trembling although she had been trying to put a brave face on their current situation. He knew without a doubt that his agent strength would have enabled him to easily pry the doors apart with his bare hands, but this was the first time he had been able to speak to Lara openly--without interruption or witnesses--and Jones was determined not to blow this timely chance at asking her out.

"It's OK, Ms. Rodgers," Jones said, patting her lightly on the back, using what he hoped was a comforting gesture. "I'm sure we'll be out of here soon." But hopefully not too soon, he thought rebelliously. He was relieved that she did not flinch or recoil from his touch; instead, she leaned against him and he put his arm around her. Almost immediately, he observed that her heart rate and respiration went down.

"Feeling better?" he asked kindly. He felt responsible for her well-being and wanted to reassure Lara that she had no reason to fear being alone with him. It made sense to Jones that the more comfortable and at ease she was now, the greater probability her answer to his suggestion for a date would be yes.

"Yes, thank you. Aren't you going to be late to wherever it was you were going?" A girl could certainly get used to being held by you, Agent Jones, Lara thought. Even though I am a grown woman, I feel safe and protected here with you. As long as you are holding me, I hope those damn doors don't open anytime soon.

"I had a meeting with Smith, but it looks like I am going to be late." But I don't give a damn about any meeting with Smith right now, he thought. She is allowing me to get physically and emotionally closer to her than we've ever been during our entire acquaintance and everything else can go to hell for all I care.

Lara knew that Smith had a reputation for being very harsh with anyone who kept him waiting. She cringed at the thought of ever finding herself in that situation.

"He is such a hard-ass," she mused. Realizing that she had spoken her thoughts aloud, she was initially afraid that she might have angered or irritated her companion but when she looked at him, she was surprised to see that Jones was amused, not angry.

"I'm so sorry. That just came out. I shouldn't have said it…"

"Relax, I don't mind. Besides, he is a hard-ass," he replied. And I could think of a few worse words than that to describe him, including the fact that he is the Matrix's biggest prick. Now is my chance to see what she really thinks of him.

"What do you think of him?" he asked innocently. "Do you like him?"

"Me?" Lara exclaimed. "Hell no! He….he gives me the creeps, to be honest."

Very interesting, Jones thought, his eyebrows rose slightly at the emphatic way she denied finding his superior attractive. This opens up many possibilities, he thought, a small glimmer of hope sparking inside of him. "I've always thought that the entire secretarial pool was enamoured of him," he said guilelessly, waiting uneasily for her answer.

"Not me. With the exception of my friend Celia, those other women are a bunch of morons," Lara stated emphatically. "I, frankly, just don't see him as being the least bit attractive."

"Really? I am curious why you don't think he is good-looking?"

"He's too skinny for one thing and that severely receding hairline definitely does not do anything for him, in my opinion. And that voice of his? It gives me the shivers every time I hear it and not the good kind either. He sounds like a machine. Inhuman and cold. Just like those creepy eyes of his."

A shiver coursed through her as she remembered the look that he had given her earlier that morning. Automatically, Jones' arm tightened around her and Lara nestled closer as if that could keep her revulsion of Agent Smith at bay.

"Well, we are not human either," Jones said reasonably.

"Yes, that is true, but with Smith, it's different. Neither of us moves nor talks as if we are robots, but he does. In spades. I don't know how you can stand it, being so close to him every day. I wouldn't be able to do it, that's for sure. He scares me," she said quietly.

Go on man, Jones thought to himself. Just ask her out—you know she is telling you the truth about how she feels regarding Smith. Ask her! If she turns you down, at least you gave it a shot.

"Ms Rodgers…I mean, Lara, would you….would you like to go out with me?" he asked softly.

"What?" As his words permeated her head, Lara found that she could not say 'yes' fast enough. "I'd like that very much, Agent Jones." Did he really just ask me on a date or am I dreaming, she thought giddily.

"Where would you like to go?" Not having asked a woman on a date in a long time, Jones knew his skills in romantic interactions with the opposite sex was sadly lacking.

"How about dinner? Or a movie?"

"We could do both," he said eagerly, anxious to spend as much time with her as possible away from the office, where they could get to know each other on a level that would otherwise be impossible.

"That sounds great," she replied with a smile. "How about you pick the restaurant and I pick the movie?"

"You've got it," Jones said, looking back at her. He tried to smile but it had been a long time since he had done so and as a result, his smile looked like a grimace more than anything else. However, Lara did not notice. All she saw was the intensity of the gaze from his warm green eyes.

I don't even care if the movie she picks is some tear-jerker chick-flick, I'll gladly sit next to her anywhere, anytime, Jones thought. "I'll pick you up at your place around seven tomorrow."

Realizing he did not know where she lived, he sheepishly asked her for her address. Lara did not have her purse with her so she asked Jones for a pen and paper. She hesitated for the merest millisecond before writing down her email address as well before handing the note back to him. He folded the piece of paper and put it in his breast pocket. Since it would be Friday tomorrow, they would not have to go into work on Saturday and their date could last as long as they both wanted it to.

Lara and Jones caught one another's eye and stared at each other until the spell between them was broken when the elevator chugged back to life. Jones helped her to her feet as they waited for the doors to open.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Lara said, before turning away in the direction of the vault, humming happily to herself. She did not even mind the long walk upstairs to the floor where the secretarial pool was located. Catching a glimpse of herself in one of the office windows, she paused and took a good long look at her reflection.

A woman in her early thirties stared back at her. Tendrils of mousy brown hair framed her face, while the bulk of her hair had been done up in a severe bun at the nape of her neck. My glasses make me look like somebody's maiden aunt or a school librarian, she thought. My mouth is too wide and my nose is too big. Lara sighed as she continued to look at herself.

As for my figure, it has more promise. I am slender but not skinny, with ample curves in the right places. She took a breast in either hand and felt the weight of their fullness. Definitely a C cup, she thought with more than a little pride. A generous handful for any man to caress or suckle, she thought, closing her eyes for a moment and imagining what it would feel like to have Jones do either to her. Lara allowed her imagination to run wild with the idea before calling herself to the unflattering task of analyzing the rest of her body.

My butt is not too big nor is it flabby in any way, she thought, looking at the side view of herself with pleasure. That's probably because of climbing all those stairs. But I am still lacking that special quality in a woman that makes men turn their heads to do a double-take or emit a wolf whistle as I walk by. There are no two ways to describe it: I am a plain Jane, pure and simple. But the way Jones looked at me in the elevator made me feel special and more importantly, pretty.

There was only one person who can help me get ready for this date and make me look as beautiful as I feel right now, she thought, and that is Celia.

"Celia," Lara said eagerly a short time later, "I have a date with Agent Jones and I really need some help." She then told her friend all about what had happened in the elevator car and Celia's eyes sparkled. So the big oaf finally realized what manner of woman had been right under his nose all these years, she thought, smiling. It certainly took him long enough!

"Honey," Celia said, putting her arm around her friend's shoulder, "I'd thought you'd never ask!"

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As soon as Lara had left the elevator, Jones took the piece of paper that had her street and email addresses and read it over twice, committing both to memory. He discovered in his search for it that his cell phone had remained on during the entire time they were in the elevator. He had been on a call with Smith when he met Lara and Jones hadn't realized that he had never hung up. He put the received to his ear and listened, relieved to hear the dial tone. At least he didn't hear what happened between us, Jones thought thankfully.

But Jones was gravely mistaken: Smith had heard everything.