Bounty (Leland Chapman Fanfiction - Unedited)

9

Maggie woke up to Duane Lee's giggles. She lifted her head off of Leland's shoulder, looking at Duane Lee, pointing and giggling at her and Leland. Leland was awake, flipping Duane Lee off. Leland jumped up, tackling him out of the room and the two began wrestling in the hallway. Maggie sighed, standing up, running a few hands through her hair before walking past them with a stupid grin on her face, and making her way downstairs.

"What is going on up there?" Beth asks as Duane Lee and Leland make their way downstairs, laughing at one another.

"Oh, nothin'," Duane Lee giggled some more as he sat down at the counter, picking out of the plate of bacon. Maggie eyed Leland, who offered a joking grin before grabbing himself a plate of food. After breakfast, everybody headed to the shop to discuss the new bond.

"Ethan Yung," Dog introduced. "This guy is tiny but mighty. He is good at hiding and fast. When he was arrested, they had to find an officer who crawled through a sewer pipe to find him, so we might need somebody small," everybody eyes Leland and Maggie.

"Oh, darn it, if only I weren't 9 months pregnant, I really wish I could crawl through a sewage pipe, sounds like a blast," Lyssa mocked, giving Maggie a look. Maggie glared.

"Maggie, do you run?" Dog asked.

"I live on a farm with dogs and two little rugrats who crave attention, of course I run," Maggie grinned.

"Good, this man is for you and Leland."

"Oh, wow, power couple," Duane Lee giggles.

"You need to shut your mouth," Leland hissed.

"Or I'll shut it for you," Maggie mumbles under her breath, looking at the paperwork. "Oh! He's 5 foot 5! I'm almost his size!" Maggie grinned.

Dog chuckled, writing down more information on the man. "He does not have a history with weapon but has a history of hands-on assault, along with drugs. He loves to play games."

The crew got ready for the hunt and began looking, asking around, with minimal lead on the fugitive. Halfway through the hunt, Leland caught a phone number from an informant. His phone was dead, so he borrowed Maggie's to call him.

"Voicemail," Leland mumbled. "Hey, Ethan, this is Leland Chapman. If you turn yourself in, it'll be a lot easier for both of us. Otherwise, good luck running, bud."

"Let's call it a day from there," Dog called it.

"Maggie wants to challenge us in a few games of Tennis, she claimed she's a professional," Leland called.

"Oh, is that so?" Duane Lee chuckled. They drove back, going to the tennis court. Leland and Duane Lee began playing, where Maggie was able to watch and truly experience how competitive the Chapman men are.

"Mother fucker that was OUT!" Duane Lee yelled at Leland.

"No it wasn't, it was IN," Leland yelled back.

"Beth?"

"BETH!" Leland yelled. Maggie raised her eyebrows.

"It was out," Beth called.

"Maggie, you're up," Duane Lee giggled as Leland handed her the racket. Maggie sighed, stepping up as she began playing the game with Duane Lee. It was rather close, game point. Duane Lee hit the ball, it bounced in Maggie's side, and just as she went to hit it, her phone began ringing, distracting her and causing her to miss the ball. "YES!" Duane Lee screamed, throwing his racket on the ground, his hands going up. Leland and Dog rolled their eyes.

Maggie laughed, picking up her phone and answering it. "Hello?" She raised her hand up, silencing everybody. "Oh, Ethan, hey... so listen, if you turn yourself in, tell us where you are, it'll be real easy for you and we can help you-... what?" The group watched her as she went over to the bench, digging through Leland's shirt that he'd taken off and put on the bench. She took out the small notepad and pencil and began writing things down. "So is this you turning yourself in or playing games?.....You sure you wanna do that brother?.....Last warning, you know we're gonna find you no matter-.... wait one second, would you? If you're gonna play games make it a fair one and talk to Dog..." she clicked the phone on speaker as the group gathered around her.

"I ain't going down with no fight, you come get me you get me, you give up you give up, you won't find me," Ethan said on the other line.

"Listen brotha," Dog said, taking the phone from Maggie. "This is Dog. This is your last warning. If you want to turn yourself in, we'll be easy on you. Otherwise you can get shot trying to crawl through more sewage pipes, it's up to you."

"...good luck."

The phone hung up.

"Did he give you an address?" Dog asked. Maggie held up the notepad, revealing the name of a vacant field. "Alright, let's go everybody!" Dog yelled. The men scattered, Leland through his shirt back on and Duane Lee handed Cecily and Lyssa the rackets to put away. The group was quick to get to the field, and then realizing, its a large field, about 200 acres, filled with quicksand, bushes, trees, poison ivy, prickers, unknown plants and lots of unknown animals. "Listen," Dog said. "Everybody stay within eye distance of one another. It's an open field, easy to see each other, but difficult to travel."

Leland helped Maggie set up her belt, giving her a set of handcuffs, mace, a flashlight, and a radio. "Stay close to me," he said with a small smile. He gave her a gentle kiss before turning and walking into the field. Duane Lee witnessed this and giggled some more.

"Careful bud, I have mace now," Maggie said all proud. She began to walk through the field, shining the flashlight at the ground as she walked.

"Ethan, Ethan, come out, come out, wherever you are," Beth called.

"I got footsteps, but they disappear," Justin said through the radio.

As Maggie walked, she paid close attention to her surroundings, being careful to avoid the quicksand, however, many mysterious plants kept brushing against her ankles. They were searching the field for about an hour, before Maggie suddenly had a negative feeling. She kept her hand on her mace, taking slow steps through the field. Suddenly, a hand grabbed onto her ankle, pulling her down. Her head whammed into a stump, and an arm wrapped around her throat. She took out her mace, pulling the pin and lever like Leland showed her. Her eyes were closed and she couldn't see anything or where the person was, so she aimed the mace everywhere. It got everywhere.

Suddenly, the arm released and the man took off running. Maggie was quick to get to her feet, putting the mace back in her belt and trying to open her burning eyes, coughing as her and Leland both took off towards the figure.

"Get 'em, Leland!" Dog yelled as everybody shined their flashlights towards the man. Maggie didn't run far, stopping and falling to her knees when the burning worsened, and a migraine popped up as her head pounded. She watched Leland's figure run after the coughing man, who was screaming from the mace. Maggie felt as if her throat was closing up as she watched Leland disappear from her sight, hearing footsteps behind her.