“Gutentag, Dr. Quark.”

Oh, man...! His heart sinking, Baloo slowly turned to face a mirror image of himself.

Baloo and Baldrik were identical except for the rings they wore: one had a gold band, the other, a gold signet ring inscribed with the Swatzi symbol.

I guess Becky was right, Baloo thought, his heart threatening to jump into his throat. There really are two of me, uh, I mean, us.

Dr. Quark was visibly agitated. “What? There are twoof you?” His bulging eyes shifted between Baloo and Baldrik, then between the envelope in Baldrik’s hands to the envelope that he held.

“Hello, cousin,” Baldrik said in a low, unpleasant voice as he slipped a meaty hand inside his jacket.

“Cousin?” Baloo yelped.

“Surely you noticed the family resemblance,” Baldrik said, his voice thick with sarcasm.

Baloo gulped and nodded. His eyes were glued to the hand concealed inside Baldrik’s jacket.

“I’m going to make you a proposition, cousin. Would you like to hear it?”

Baloo licked his lips nervously. “Shoot. Uh, I mean...!”

“What is this? What is going on, Baldrik?” Dr. Quark interjected.

“A double-cross,” Baldrik snarled. He advanced, forcing Baloo back towards the window ledge.

Baloo, who was now sweating profusely, peeked over his shoulder at the windowless window. He didn’t like what he saw. It was a straight shot several stories down to the pavement. All it would take was one step too many, and he would be street pizza.

What a time to be without my Sea Duck.

There was only one thing Baloo could think to do.

He grabbed both envelopes, pushed past Baldrik, and dashed through the crowd, shouting over his shoulder, “No, this is a double-cross!”

Baloo heard Dr. Quark yell, “Stop!” as he barreled through the door marked ‘STAIRS’.

“I’ll catch him,” Baldrik said, starting towards the open elevator.

“You haveto see this, mister!” Elmira said, grabbing Baldrik by the arm and leading him towards the window, away from the elevator in the middle of the room.

“Let go!” Baldrik shouted, trying and failing to wrench himself away from her vice-like grasp. “Let go of me, you...you...!”

Click! Click! Click! Click! Lester snapped picture after picture right in Baldrik’s face, temporarily blinding him.

“He’s getting away! He’s getting away!” Dr. Quark squeaked. He jumped up and down in agitation.

“I know! I know!” Baldrik shouted, livid. Through the spots obstructing his vision, he saw that the elevator had already begun its descent. He couldn’t afford to waste time waiting for it to return. “Gestopftes!” He clawed’s Elmira’s hand away from his arm and stormed towards the door marked ‘STAIRS’. In his anger, the big bear punched the door, causing it to splinter at the hinges, and thundered down the stairs. “You can run, cousin, but you can’t hide!”

“Uh-oh! Here comes my identical kin,” Baloo murmured, hastening his speed as he pelted down the seemingly never-ending spiral staircase.

To make matters worse, Baldrik was firing his gun at him.

Why didn’t I take the elevator? Baloo thought, trying to duck and run at the same time.

When Baloo reached the bottom, his legs felt like jelly. Panting and slightly dizzy, he pushed open the door and was greeted by a blast of hot summer sun.

He sped across the piazza, towards the canals and a means of escape, paying no attention to the people feeding pigeons, taking pictures, following tour guides, or sipping beverages at the cafes. His mind was consumed with another problem.

What to do with them papers so’s double-trouble don’t get ‘em if he gets me?

Just then, he spotted café tables that were shaded by bright yellow umbrellas with flat tops. Without slowing, he tossed both envelopes on top of an umbrella and continued on towards the canals.

“Baloo?” Rebecca said as a grey blur resembling her husband zoomed past her.

A moment later, Baldrik ran by.

“Baloo?”

Incredulously, Inspector Deuseau exclaimed, “Two of them?”

“Now do you believe me?”

Seeing Dr. Quark trotting their way in his odd, waddling gait, Rebecca cried, “Oh, no, you don’t!” and swung her purse at the physicist’s head. The squat toad fell to the pavement like a ton of bricks.

Deuseau was impressed. “If I may ask, madame, what do you have in there?”

Rebecca reached into her bag and retrieved a lead paperweight shaped like the Eyeful Tower.

“Vive la Pearee,” the inspector chuckled.

“Good work,” a voice said behind them.

Rebecca and Deuseau spun around in time to see Lester clicking handcuffs on Dr. Quark.

“Who...what...?” Rebecca faltered. Their touristy costumes were a stark contrast to their serious expressions.

“Agent Thompson. Agent Thompson.” They both flashed their official badges.

In a business-like tone, Elmira said, “We’re with the O.S.S.S.”

“O.S.S.S?” Inspector Deuseau and Rebecca echoed simultaneously.

“The Office of Super Secret Spies,” Lester supplied.

“We’ll explain on the way. Right now, we have a thief to capture.” Elmira slung the unconscious Dr. Quark over her shoulder and ran towards the docks with everyone else close behind. She jumped into a speedboat and unceremoniously plunked the physicist down on the bottom of the boat. Lester, Rebecca, and the inspector scrambled into the boat moments before the engine revved up and sped away.

Over the noise of the engine and the rushing wind, Elmira said, “As soon as we’d heard that Dr. Bonet and his associates were creating an atomic bomb, we knew that the Swatzis would want to get their greedy hands on it.”

“And now we have the proof we need,” Lester pointed to his cameras; “as well as the scientific link.” He gestured to Dr. Quark lying unconscious, a large goose egg growing on his forehead.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. von Bruinwald, we’ll clear your husband’s name.” At Rebecca’s startled expression, Elmira smiled mysteriously. “Yes, we know who you are.”

I only wish that I could know everything that was going on, Rebecca thought. One glance at the inspector and she knew that he was thinking the same thing.

Meanwhile...

Baloo was also racing through the canals of Veniece in a speedboat. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed that Baldrik, also in a speedboat, was gaining on him.

I can’t shake this guy!

Baloo pushed up the throttle, causing the boat to skim faster over the murky canal, throwing a bigger wall of water in its wake. His tongue protruded in concentration as he zigged and zagged around gondolas, vaporetti, and speedboats. Buildings sped past in a multi-colored blur. Bridges flashed above him for a second, then were gone in the blink of an eye.

When he dared to glance over his shoulder again, he saw that Baldrik was a mere boat-length behind. Baloo increased the throttle again, causing the engine to roar louder. “All I wanted was a nice, relaxin’...” he made a sharp right turn, thus temporarily throwing Baldrik off his trail, “--- honeymoon. Get in a little R&R - my two favorite letters,” he dodged around a gondola; “and here I am bein’ chased by some evil twin cousin. What else can go wrong?”

As if in answer to his question, the motor coughed and sputtered. “Come on, baby!” Baloo urged, tapping the gas gauge. “‘E’ means ‘enough’, don’t it?”

The boat drifted a little before coming to a stop.

“Guess not.”

Just then, he heard the sound of an approaching speedboat.

“Uh-oh!” Baloo murmured, whirling in his seat.

A big grey bear was flying through the air towards him. Before he had time to react, Baloo had been tackled, pinned to the speedboat’s deck.

“Where are the papers?” Baldrik snarled in Baloo’s ear.

“Go fish!” Baloo growled. With a grunt of exertion, he threw Baldrik off of him and into the canal. “Ha!”

“He who laughs last, laughs best, cousin.” Baldrik tipped the boat over, causing Baloo to fall into the water with a gigantic splash.

Before he knew what was happening, Baloo found his head being forced under the water.

“Give me the envelopes!” Baldrik demanded, shoving Baloo’s head underwater again. When he let his spluttering cousin up, he repeated, “The envelopes for your life.”

“My...cough, cough...my life? Wha...what about all them folks’ lives you’re...cough...you’re gonna rub out with that...gah!...bomb?” Baloo gasped. He clawed at Baldrik’s hand, which was now squeezing his neck.

“That should be the least of your worries right now,” Baldrik said coolly, gradually tightening his grip.

In a constricted, scratchy voice, Baloo said, “The only...good thing...about that bomb...is that it’ll rid the world of all the...Swatzi scum...like you.”

“How dare you, cousin!” Baldrik spluttered, enraged. He put both hands around Baloo’s neck and squeezed as hard as he could.

Red swam before Baloo’s eyes. With every passing second, he felt consciousness slipping away from him. However, his cousin’s words had stung him to life. Mustering up the last bit of strength he had, he aimed a punch at Baldrik. “Don’t.” Punch! “Call.” Punch! “Me.” Punch! “Cousin.” Punch! With the final

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