From the May 18, 2023 writer's prompt on the JE FF Facebook page. Write a one-shot using the words "asking for a friend". No longer a one-shot. Not by a long shot.

Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to Janet Evanovich. I am not making any money from this. Mistakes are mine.

Asking for a Friend by Debra8652

POV will alternate between Remy, Rodriguez, and Santos. References made to Chapter 15 of AFAF and Chapters 23 and 29 of Even the Pup...

Chapter 16 Rodriguez 2.0

Remy's POV

Hooray - all my Rangeguys are back where they should be - Santos and Tank from Rangeman Boston, Ramon and Vince from Rangeman Miami, and Binkie and Brett from who-knows-where, which is next door to don't-even-ask. Our Day of Thanksgiving didn't happen until December but that's not what's important! Mom says we need to be thankful every day and not just one day a year. Onward!

Rodriguez's POV

I thought my little exercise in using disguises to pose as a Rutgers student, Staples shopper, and jogger in the park as a training exercise for Steph was complete until Santos came down to my office on second floor to run an idea by me. I'm in!

Remy's POV

Mom and Manny are helping Hector with an installation, so Santos asked me if I wanted to go down to second floor to visit my buddy Flash while he talked to Rodriguez. I'm in! Flash is just finishing up a project then he'll take me for a walk. It's lunchtime and Rodriguez is eating his lunch at his desk and doing some holiday shopping on Amazon on his personal iPad. Hmm - must learn his ID and password. The Rangeman rumor mill says that something like this happened before!*

I can hear Santos conspiring with Rodriguez about Mom's and my upcoming visit to St. Francis children's ward on Saturday. Santos will clear it with the hospital powers that be so that Rodriguez will be disguised as Santa to visit the kids. He will arrive before Mom, Santos, and me, and drive a non-Rangeman vehicle. Will Mom figure it out? Hard to say - you see Santa Claus all over at this time of year and her focus is on the hospitalized kids and their families. Would I be able to communicate their plan to her and ruin it for them? You betcha! How much is my silence worth? Ka-ching!

Santos POV

0915 Saturday - got a text from Rodriguez. He is waiting at the elevators to the children's wing in his Santa outfit. Beautiful, Remy and I are ready to roll in a Rangeman SUV filled with Christmas presents. Beautiful got the ages and genders of the 12 kids who are hospitalized. Every present has a book plus some other goodies in it like socks, puzzle books, gum, trail mix, candy, nuts and snack crackers. Beautiful puts a lot of work into individualizing the gifts in spite of the HIPAA rules we need to follow.

The elevator arrives and we load onto it with a flatbed cart of gifts. I would never have recognized Rodriguez but I swear Remy winked at him. Damn, he could give Rodriguez's identity away to Steph. Rodriguez sits on a nice chair the hospital provided so he can talk to all of the kids. He's surprisingly good at this. The other kids open their presents while waiting for their turn to talk to Santa. Remy is having a heyday - he loves the kids as much as they love him.

I give the still-unrecognized Rodriguez a head start in leaving the hospital. Beautiful took Remy to potty and I folded up and loaded the flatbed cart and will drop it off by the Rangeman freight elevator. Rodriguez texts that he is in his apartment and in civvies. Steph heads up to seven to change clothes and I take Remy with me under the guise of getting something from my apartment. When Rodriguez opens his apartment door to us, Remy eyes him with laser focus. The jig may be up. Remy could do the mind-meld thing with Steph or Diesel and she'd find out who our Santa was. Remy looks at Rodriguez's iPad on his coffee table and herds him toward it. He doesn't let up until the iPad is open to the Amazon site. Criminy - this will not end well.

Rodriguez is the ever obedient soldier and opens up the Pet Department link. Remy actually gets on the couch and sits beside him. He's a frighteningly smart dog and, if he ever learns to talk, I'm sure his first words will be "Add to Cart". Remy sees a doggy holiday sweater he likes and paws Rodriguez's thigh, a grooming brush, a stuffed pink flamingo, and a tug of war toy plus some peanut butter stuffed dog treats. For crying out loud, the order now qualifies for free two-day shipping. I grab my wallet and give Rodriguez half of the total cost since we're co-conspirators in this. We'll have to tell Beautiful that some of the guys went together and got Remy a holiday present. That's close to the truth.

Rodriguez's POV

A few days later Ranger made his rounds to shake everyone's hand, thank them for their hard work over the past year, and hand out year-end bonuses. He definitely had a smirk on his face when he came to my office. I've known Ranger for several years now and he'll only let you see what he wants you to see. Does he want me to see him as my Commanding Officer? Check. How about the Rangeman CEO? Double-check. Does he know about the training exercises Santos and I put Steph through? Impossible to think that he doesn't. We've always opened the envelopes in front of him in past years. Holy cow - this is the biggest bonus I've ever received - thanks to Steph and Santos for exceeding sales goals and the take-down teams for bringing in some high bond skips. Included with all bonus checks is a personal note, signed by the Core Team. At the bottom of my note Ranger wrote "He only cost me a stuffed hedgehog. From the looks of his toy bin, he took you for a lot more." Crap - busted.

So, legally speaking, can a pup be charged with extortion? Asking for a friend.

A/N Chalk up another win for Superpup. Your reviews are appreciated. *Shoutout to directorofchaos.