Smooth Criminals

I looked into my long oval mirror that stood in my bedroom. Donatello was seated at my feet and looking up at me. I looked down at him with my deep brown eyes. His tongue lolled out of his black mouth. He gave one single bark. I nodded.

It was almost midnight and I was waiting for the good ole radio to tell me where to go. So far, nothing.

I looked back at the mirror. I had my black trousers on with the white shirt and the suspenders holding down my chest. My black patton shoes enabled me to run fast and to move quietly. Then again, when I ran, they did pound on the ground. It didn't matter because I knew how to sneak up on the criminals. Well, the other criminals. After all, I was a criminal myself.

The face in the mirror was a woman's face. I didn't have the bandanna on, but I had my black fedora on with my hair balled up in it. I held the pitch black bandanna in my gloved hand. My hands looked like frail woman's hands, but they really weren't. I still had to cover them up in case someone saw them.

Donatello looked over at the old black radio perched on the edge of my wooden kitchen stool. He barked and his signal made me look over at the radio too. I listened in closely.

"Two or three shoplifters were caught running down an alley way from the drug store on Third street. They were noticed by the manager of the store as the criminals moved through the alley behind third street," the radio's voice said.

I looked down at Donatello. "Ready?"

He gave a single deep growl. I smiled and lifted the black bandanna to my face. I covered my nose and mouth and tied it around the back of my head.

Donatello stood up on his long thick legs and wagged his heavy black tail.

My feet picked me up from my bedroom and through my house out into the pitch black night. I shut my house door behind me. I ran down my front wood stairs that were falling apart and stopped in the middle of the street.

I looked back to find Donatello right on my heels. He would have been invisible in the night if it weren't for the lights on the sides of the buildings and on the little stores. He barked again signaling he was ready.

I nodded. "Lead." I said to him in my deep falsetto voice.

He looked at me and then dove off into the night. I followed right behind him as we dove through alleys and across dimly lit streets.

My patton shoes pounded against the hard cement lightly. I looked around the street that we came off onto as Donatello stopped and looked forward. I realized we were on the Third Street. I looked to my right and saw the drug store that was busted into. The windows were shattered and glass was everywhere. I heard frantic yelling from inside the building which was probably the manager.

I quickly jerked my body back as I heard the police siren wail down the street. The oldsmobile with the single red light on top of it flashed across my face. I dove back into the alley and flattened my body against the wall of the drug store.

Donatello came over behind me. He barked once and I looked to see what he was barking at. He was faced back towards the alley we were at the end of. I saw two figures at the end of the alley. They were quietly yelling at each other telling one another to hold this and move faster. I squinted at the figures. Two amateurs, by the looks of things.

One was moving slower than the other. Probably fatter than the other as well. His pudgy silouhette wasn't hard to see. The other figure was tall and skinny. Neither one of them would have been hard to take down.

I quickly edged myself close to the buildings and moved along side them as I moved through the shadows. Donatello followed several feet behind me. I pushed my fedora over my eyes as I came several yards behind the crooks.

I stopped as the two men were loading their stolen goods into a red oldsmobile. Donatello stopped and sat. I looked back at him.

"So, you think I can take them on my own then?" I asked in my real voice. He gave a small whimper and laid down on the alley's pavement. I looked back at the crooks. "Alright then."

I quickly and smoothly moved out of the shadows and into the street lights. The men were too busy loading their goods to even notice me. The tall skinny one was on the other side of the car facing an opposite alley.

I came up behind the pudgy one who was mumbling to himself. I wrapped my left arm around his neck and pulled him back towards the alley I came out of. The tall skinny one didn't notice until Pudgy gurgled on his spit. Pudgy dropped his goods as I brought him back into the shadows. I dropped him on the ground and looked into the man's eyes. He looked up at me with fright.

"The Masked Ghost..." He forced out.

I smiled under my bandanna. I quickly lifted my right fist and punched Pudgy square in the nose. He quickly fell unconscious. I looked over at Donatello, who was several feet away.

"Watch him." I said in my falsetto voice.

Donatello didn't move, but he looked at Pudgy who's head was drooped on his shoulder.

I turned around, back towards the street where Skinny stood still over by the car looking around for his partner. He quickly turned back towards the opposite alley. It was my chance. I ran quickly and silently over to the opposite side of the car from Skinny. I bent down and looked underneath the car to see which was Skinny was turned.

His feet shifted and turned towards me. His feet shifted again and he turned back towards the alley. I quickly stood up and jogged around the car. I moved behind the unexpected Skinny. I didn't try to jump him. I waited for him to turn around.

He turned around and looked at me like I was a ghost. I smiled once more under my bandanna and punched him swiftly in the nose. He fell unconscious just as fast as Pudgy. I caught Skinny's body before he fell to the ground.

I pulled Skinny across the street to the alley where Donatello and Pudgy lay. I looked around to see if anyone was looking. I lay Skinny down next to Pudgy and Skinny's head fell down on Pudgy's shoulder. I shook my head.

This town needed a better class of criminal. I was going to give it to them.

My gloved hands quickly dug around in Pudgy and Skinny's jackets looking for money. I pulled out several drug wrappers and drugs themselves along with a couple hundred dollars. I shoved the money into my trousers and stood up.

These men were most likely drug dealers if not just stupid men who had too much money and got high all the time.

I looked down at Donatello and nodded. He looked at me with his dark black eyes and stood up. He came over to my side.

I began walking towards the car that the men were standing by when I heard the siren of the police car come down the alley. I turned around and saw the police car turn down the alley.

My feet quickly made me dive out of the alley and turn left onto the sidewalk, instead of going across the street. I came to the end of the sidewalk and was about to turn when I felt a pair of hands grab under my arms and drag me into the shadows behind a tall dumpster.

I struggled to get out of the person's grasp, but they had me in a lock. The person dropped me on a pile of full garbage bags. I looked up at whoever did that to me, but I couldn't see what they looked like. I knew it was two people by the looks of their dark figures. All I knew was that it wasn't Pudgy and Skinny.

Donatello came over by my side and sat barking at the two men. One of the men quickly wrapped their hands around Donatello's muzzle to shut him up. Donatello tried to get out, but something told me the men didn't mean harm. Not to me anyways.

"Don, stop," I ordered in my falsetto voice.

Donatello stopped struggling and let the man hold his muzzle closed.

"Thank you," the man holding Donatello said in a relieved whisper.

The other man looked around the dumpster towards the police car. They obviously didn't want to get caught by the police. They obviously knew I didn't either. Otherwise they would have just let me go. I didn't know what else to think about these men.

I tried to see around the men to look at the flashing red light. All I saw was the light flicker off of the building walls.

"We got em'," one of the policemen said. "Yeah, they were unconscious."

He must have been talking into his phone. Most likely back to the county. I didn't want to be in there.

"We don't know how." The man continued.

So, there was more than one policeman out there and they didn't figure out how the men were already unconscious. I wouldn't have minded if they found out about it being me, but I didn't want them capturing me. The last thing I wanted was to be in bars.

The flashing red light moved closer and then it faded. I looked up at the men to see if it was safe again. I just stayed still on top of the pile of garbage.

The man that was next to the dumpster moved and came over to his partner and Donatello. I looked up at them with concern. I didn't know what they were going to do.

The man holding Donatello let go off him and he shook the grasp off. The figure looked down at Donatello.

"Nice dog," he paused. "But why on this Earth would you use a dog and not another human being."

I didn't answer.

"And why would you be wearing a bandanna over your mouth?" He continued.

Oh dear Lord. They were going to find out about my secret. After months of hiding it.

The other man spoke up. "Hey, aren't you the Masked Ghost?" His voice was slightly high pitched.

The other man looked at his partner and then at me and then at Donatello. "By George, I think you're right. The Masked Ghost and her Black Horse."

My heart rate sped up faster than it should have. They knew who I was. They knew who Donatello was.

The man that held Donatello offered his hand for me. I looked at it and then carefully placed mine in it. He pulled me up off of the garbage bags. When I was up he didn't let go of my hand. He grasped it harder and began pulling me towards the street lights that were in the street. He stopped in the middle of the street with his partner and Donatello following behind us.

"Take an easy on him, John." The other man said.

John? Is that really what he just said?

The street light shown on his face. I looked up at it. Sure enough, he looked just like the radio had described. The black fedora, black coat, black trousers, and black suspenders complete with the white shirt underneath. I looked up at John Depp, the second member of the Dynamic Duo. Did that make his partner Michael Jackson?

My eyes flashed to his partner who walked swiftly and gracefully to John's side. His white fedora covered his face. I looked at the rest of him though. The white jacket, the blue tie, the white knickers, and the black and white patton shoes. Michael J. Jackson. I still couldn't see his face, but I could see his curly black hair that was pulled back on the back of his head. I could see his lips curl into a smile as my eyes drew over his body in shock.

I looked back up at John Depp who had his hands now grasping my shirt and pulling me up on my tip toes. I looked at him waiting for the moment to come when he would pull off my mask and reveal the Masked Ghost.

Donatello sat on the other side of the street whimpering, waiting for an order from me. I didn't give one.

John Depp smiled as I looked up at him again.

"Lets reveal the Masked Ghost."

Michael Jackson chuckled.

John Depp released one of his hands from my shirt and grabbed the bandanna from my face. I sucked my lips in so that maybe they wouldn't atomatically notice I was a woman. I closed my eyes as John pulled the black bandanna down and let it hang around my neck.

He laughed and pulled my fedora off of my head. My hair fell around my face obviously revealing me as a woman.

I opened my eyes and looked at John and then at Michael. Both of their smiles dropped to frowns. John's grasp on my shirt loosened completely and my feet landed back on the ground. I looked up at him and then at Michael.

Michael set his hand on John's shoulder and John backed up. Michael took his place and stood about three inches taller than me. John was about two inches taller than Michael, I realized.

Michael looked me up and down and then his eyes landed on mine. I still couldn't see them because of his white fedora.

He laughed a little. "The Masked Ghost is indeed a woman." I didn't know who he was telling, but no one answered.

John smiled behind him. The Dynamic Duo were the first people to know my identity. I didn't know if I should have been amazed or scared. At the moment, I was a combination of both. I was probably the first to know the identity of the Dynamic Duo.