the other side of the lab when the goons burst in. “Hey, you!”

“Who, us?” Kit retorted with a smirk. “Sorry we can’t stay and chat, but we were just leaving!” He grabbed a chair, pushed open the door connecting to the main building, and, after they were all on the other side, wedged the chair underneath the doorknob in an attempt to buy them some time.

The goons thundered side-by-side through the lab, overturning chairs, knocking machines and scientists over, and sending beakers and their boiling contents splashing to the floor.

Faintly, there was a gurgling sound that started in low, then started to grow. Emanating from the bubble machine was the biggest bubble that grew...

And grew.

And grew!

The goons watched, fascinated and alarmed, as the bubble pressed them against the bench. They gasped for breath as they were squished almost flat.

Finally, after what seemed a breathtaking eternity to the goons, the gigantic bubble blew with a deafening POP! The goons were propelled across the room, through the wall of the lab like two missiles. Rebecca and Kit dropped to the floor, but Molly wasn’t so lucky. She, caught up in the goons’ wake, was thrown through the open window as the two lives missiles flew down the hallway.

“Molly!” Rebecca and Kit cried, watching with horror as the little girl plummeted towards the busy street below.

Without hesitating a second, Kit jumped out the window, grabbed his airfoil from beneath his sweater, ‘swam’ towards Molly, caught her around the waist, opened the airfoil with a flick of his wrist, and slid the airfoil beneath their feet. Spotting another open window in Khan Towers, he aimed for it. In the office, they surfed across on top of desks, swung three times around a coatrack, and lurched to an abrupt stop in a female elephant’s lap.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Kit apologized, quickly helping Molly off of the amazed and peeved woman’s ample lap. “You okay, kiddo?”

“That was great!” Molly giggled. “Can we do it again?”

“No,” he replied firmly. With a push of a button, he folded his airfoil and concealed it beneath his shirt. “ Let’s go find your mom and Baloo.”

Meanwhile
Sixty-Seven Stories Up

In his penthouse office, Shere Khan was enjoying his daily feeding of his Venus flytraps. Tending to the large, lush jungle that lined both sides of his opulent office relaxed his nerves and provided an escape from the everyday pressures of running a multi-billion dollar corporation. Needless to say, it was the most enjoyable part of his day. The tiger businessman took a wriggling beetle from a large jar and held it over one of the flytraps’ open mouths. A slight smile crossed Khan’s normally impassive features as he listened to his pet’s satisfied crunching.

“Mr. Khan?” said Mrs. Snarly, Khan’s devoted secretary over the intercom.

A frown replaced Khan’s smile as he set the jar of insects on his desk and punched the intercom button. “This had better be worthwhile. I told you that I wasn’t to be disturbed unless it was for something more than a million dollars.”

“It is, sir. There’s something that you should know.”

“Mr. Stedman is here?”

“No, sir. Security recommends that you listen to your microphone system.”

With a flip of a switch, shrieks and shouts as well as a few gunshots were audible. Khan’s face darkened. “What exactly is going on, Mrs. Snarly?”

“It appears some hooligans are causing disturbances throughout the building, sir. Security is on it.”

Khan listened to the screaming and shouting, scowling. “Tell security to be on it,” he flicked his razor sharp claws out; “faster.”

“Yes, Mr. Khan.”

He savagely slashed his claws across his desk. “I want this bedlam stopped.”

Thirty-Seven Stories Down
Or the 53rd Floor

Rebecca got in the elevator. Her heart was still hammering in her chest from seeing her daughter and her future son plunging to their near deaths. She looked at the bank of floor numbers - some above, some below. She thoughtfully gazed at the stone in her hand. Sure, it was worth a lot of money, but a lot of money wouldn’t mean anything without her children or Baloo. Pursing her lips, she decidedly pushed ‘twenty-five’.

To her immense surprise, one floor down, the elevator stopped. The doors opened. When Trader Moe and the goons crowded in, she quickly jammed the stone in her pants pocket.

“Small world, ain’t it?” Trader Moe leered up at her. “Where’s da stone?”

“I don’t have it.” Rebecca’s fingers closed around the stone in her pocket. She cast discreet glances at the hulking goons, who were on each side of her. She knew that they could easily snap her in two like a toothpick.

“We’ll see about dat. Shake her up, boys.”

Taking her by the shoulders, they roughly shook her like a paint can until she felt like she was going to pass out from a concussion.

Trader Moe slapped a hand to his forehead. “No, ya bozos! I meant shake her upside-down!”

“Oh, I gets it!” Rhino Goon said slowly. “Upside-down, like on her head.”

“Downside-up on her head.” The big ape pointed to his backside, which he thought was his head.

“Her head’s up here,” Rhino Goon corrected, gesturing to his bald pate.

“Oh, head,” said Ape Goon, giggling stupidly.

“Don’t you...ah!” Rebecca was flipped upside-down and shook. The stone clattered to the floor and emitted a small spark.

“Hello, light o’ my life.” Trader Moe reached down to pick it up. A jolt of crackling electricity coursed through his entire body, turning him into a jittery light bulb.

Rhino Goon offered amiably, “I’ll save ya, boss.”

“Yeah, save ya,” said Ape Goon.

But in trying to pry the stone from Trader Moe’s shaking hands, they too were shocked - and they were unable to break their connection with the stone.

Rebecca clamped her eyes shut and shrank against the wall, flinching at the horrible sizzling and cries of agony.

When all was silent, she cautiously opened her eyes, Trader Moe and his goons were charred black like three burnt hot dogs. Thick grey smoke rolled from them, and there was a horrible stench of scorched fur.

To Rebecca’s great relief, the elevator bell dinged and the doors slid open. Heart pounding, she grabbed the stone, swiftly pressed the first floor button, then the ‘close door’ button, and fled, colliding with...

“You!” Rebecca and Baloo cried simultaneously.

Rebecca slipped her hand into the big bear’s. “Oh, Baloo, I’ve never been so glad to see you in all my life.”

“Same here, Beckers.” Feeling the stone pressed against his palm, he beamed with delight. “You an’ yer sparkly friend.”

They sidled over to the second elevator.

“Have you seen the kids?” Rebecca asked concernedly.

“Uh-huh.” The big bear shook his head.

“We’ve got to find them.” She pushed the ‘down’ button.

Baloo pushed the ‘up’ button. “After we cash this stone in.”

“How can you be so selfish, Baloo? This is Kit and Molly we’re talking about.”

“Kit can take care of himself an’ Molly.”

Rebecca’s voice and temper rose as she retorted, “I don’t want my children in the hands of that...that...Trader Moe and his lamebrain goons or that other strangely handsome...” Catching her fiancé’s annoyed look, she swiftly amended, “I mean, strange weirdo - whoever he is! We’re going after the kids!”

“We’re cashin’ in this stone, Becky!”

They jabbed the elevator buttons more forcefully with each angry sentence.

“Kids!”

“Stone!”

“KIDS!” Rebecca put her paws over the buttons, glaring defiantly at Baloo.

“Fun game,” said Rhino Goon, behind them.

“Yeah, fun,” echoed Ape Goon with a giggle.

“I know what comes next,” said Rhino Goon. “Stone, right?”

“Right,” said Trader Moe, wiping soot from his face. He and the goons were aiming guns at the two bears. In a sweetly sarcastic tone, he said, “If you would be so kind as to hand it over.”

“See what your arguing has gotten us into, Baloo?” Rebecca scolded.

“Me? If you had just listened to me, Rebecca, we’d be in Khanny’s office right now, collectin’ our moolah, but noooooo, you knew better!”

Trader Moe’s furious, “SHADDUP!” echoed through the hallway. He and his goons pointed guns at them. “It’s time we got rid of two annoyin’ obstacles. Boys, when I say ‘fire’, you fire at da two bears. Don’t fire at me. Fire at da two bears! An’ you don’t listen to a word dey say. Only listen to me!”

His forehead creased in concentration, Rhino Goon nodded his head. “Okay, boss.”

“Okey-dokey.” Ape Goon also nodded his head.

“Ready...”

Baloo drew Rebecca close, shielding her in his arms. He whispered loudly, “Ya shoulda listened to me, Becky, then we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Trader Moe’s malicious grin widened. “Aim...”

Rebecca buried her face in Baloo’s chest. She whispered back, “For once, Baloo, can’t we die without bickering?”

“Fi...” Squeezing their eyes shut, the bears inhaled sharply, then breathed a collective sigh of relief when Trader Moe said, “Wait, boys! Dey still have da stone. Hand it over, den we’ll

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