The Pharoah Unmasked-Chapter 4

"They took the bait?" The Pharoah asked.

"You knew they would. I made sure and left a good trace of my DNA. My fingerprints on that postcard where I knew Bentley would find it. He'll trace it to this place here. At the old Wax museum." Penelope said, "Our plan is foolproof."

Penelope was monitoring a super computer. She tapped a few keystrokes on a keyboard. The Pharoah watched her.

"You mean my plan. Don't mess this up, Penelope."

Then he turned to walk away.

"Hey, I want them all to pay as badly as you." She replied, pointing her thumb at herself.

Sly was fastened to a wall. His wrists and ankles were held there by metal cuffs.

"So you're the one Inspector Fox is infatuated with. You don't look very promising." The Pharoah told him.

"You'd be surprised." Sly told him, a smug look on his face.

"Laugh all the want, my friend, but my plans to eliminate you haven't changed."

"I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you." Sly replied, as his grin got bigger.

Within minutes, a large blue van came crashing into the building. It left a huge gaping hole and demolished the whole wall. The Pharoah and Penelope were covered in sheetrock dust. Carmelita karate kicked the Pharoah in the face. Murray jumped out of the van and bent the metal cuffs freeing Sly. The raccoon thief grabbed his cane that was sitting a few feet from him.

Penelope took out a gun and was about to shoot Carmelita.

"Put down your weapon, Penelope." Bentley said, pressing a button on his electronic wheelchair which activated a laser cannon. It was aimed at the white mouse.

"You're a fool, Bentley. Your intellect is similiar to mine. We could've been great together but you chose loyalty to Sly over me." She said, dropping her weapon.

"I told you I wasn't going to turn bad like you." He said, looking away.

Suddenly, the laser cannon was shot and turned into a toy gun.

"Looks familiar? My scepter is an ancient Egyptian artifact called Staff of Tut. It's capable of firing laser blasts and now combined with the Eye of Osiris. I have great powers!" He grinned.

The Pharoah had a cane that was similiar to Sly's. Except instead of it being gold plated and curved like a cursive C for Cooper, it had a P on it.

"Freeze, Interpol!" Carmelita shouted, "Give up, Pharoah!"

"As you wish..." The Pharoah said, then suddenly grabbing Carmelita. His arm was around her neck and waist. "Or not."

"Let her go, Pharoah!" Sly cried out, "Don't hurt Carmelita!"

"And why would I want to hurt my new Queen of the Nile?" He replied, chuckling glancing at Carmelita, "She is far too beautiful to be destroyed."

"What? Pharoah, you said I was going to be your new Queen of the Nile." Penelope groaned, "Aren't I pretty?"

"Don't make me laugh."

"But I thought you loved me..." She said, looking at him incredulously, "You said you did."

"Oh, please. I only love the fact that you were useful to me nothing more." He replied, not caring that Penelope was now in tears.

"And now you've outgrown your usefulness." He said, aiming his laser cane at her transforming her into a stone statue.

"Penelope!" Bentley cried out, hands outstretched in anguish.

In spite of her betrayal, the tiny turtle still cared for her. Sly's heart went out to his hurting friend.

Sure, she turned on the Cooper Gang but even she didn't deserve this.

Using his cane, Sly struck and hooked on to the scepter taking it out of his hand and then tripping the Pharoah who fell to the ground which released his hold on Carmelita.

"You okay, Carmelita?" Sly asked.

"Fine. Thanks, Ringtail." She smiled.

"You know how long I've missed you calling me Ringtail?"

Carmelita chuckled. It was good having him back.

"I wonder who he really is." Carmelita said, about the now beaten Pharoah.

"Oh, I can tell ya that. Isn't that right..." Bentley said, removing his mask, "...Detective Winthrop?"

"Winthrop?" Carmelita looked shocked.

It was indeed Detective Winthrop who now frowned at her, Sly, Murray, and Bentley.

"You're the Pharoah?" But how? Why?"

"You had mentioned to me that he disappeared at the same time Sly disappeared. I decided to run a background check on Winthrop and found something interesting." Bentley said, showing his stunned audience a file on Detective Winthrop.

"Straight A student in college. Major: ancient Egypt. Graduated top of his class." Bentley said.

"Very good. I never thought you'd be smart enough to figure me out. But you're right. I always did like ancient civilizations especially Egypt." Winthrop laughed.

"Why did you do this, Winthrop? You're a police officer. You're supposed to be helping to enforce the law not breaking it!" Carmelita asked, still in shock.

"Why? Why do you think?! I did it for you!" He shouted out.

"For-me?"

"I loved you, Carmelita, but you were too busy mooning over him!"

He now gave Sly a dirty look.

"Three years ago, I came by your office to surprise you. I had a bouquet of roses and was going to invite you to have dinner with me, but you weren't there. So I decided to leave the roses there with a note. That's when I saw that photograph of the two of you together on your desk. You can imagine my disgust. You were so obsessed with capturing Sly Cooper nothing else mattered. Then I discovered why you kept wanting to pursue him. You were in love with him! Reform him if you could.I couldn't compare to him. He was good-looking and slender. I was fat, out of shape, and flabby. He was lean and athletic. Everything I wasn't." He fumed, looking away.

"Winthrop, I..." Carmelita began.

"I vowed right then and there that I would make you love me by becoming the man you wanted. I ate right and exercised hoping you would notice me, but you never did. It was always about Sly Cooper! Then when he disappeared, I thought for sure I would have a chance with you. But it didn't happen. That's when I decided to become a master thief like he had become thinking that you would notice me I worked with the Fiendish Five as an underling. Through talk, I learned each member stole from the Cooper Family an ancient book called the Thievious Raccoonous. It contained special techniques only used by master thieves. I learned where each member hid their torn pieces of the book. Using my phone, I took pictures of each of the pieces and sent them to my computer. On my days off from the job, I studied these techniques and when the Fiendish Five went to jail, I began committing robberies. I recruited Penelope to help me. She was a genius and a criminal. Someone who was in as deep as I was."

"Whatever feelings you have for me is never a good reason to become a criminal and go around breaking the law!" Carmelita said.