Elisa stared in disbelief at Travis…Or was his name even Travis?
Crap. How badly had they messed up? They had brought him in as a friend to the clan. He knew a LOT of things now that could hurt both Matt's career and her own.
CRAP.
Estrella did the introductions. "Folks, this is Sergeant Travis. He has served on the CID for almost twelve years, and has been here undercover for almost eight of those."
Travis seemed to shake himself out of his stupor and acknowledged the room, giving each individual a short nod as they were introduced.
He took a seat in the only remaining chair at the table.
Right in front of Elisa and Matt.
Oh, goody, Elisa thought. She was going to have a front row seat to this mess.
She crossed her arms, leaned back in the chair and gave him her best blank stare. Better men than Travis had crumpled under it.
Travis tried not to make eye contact, like the coward he suddenly felt like, but he still felt the burn of Elisa's gaze like a hot poker burning a hole in his chest.
"As Lieutenant Colonel Estrella said," Travis said, "I have been here undercover for quite some time, trying to find where and how these shipments are getting into Manhattan. At first," He admitted, "I was brought in because it was believed that someone in the NYPD may have connections to the deliveries, however," he said forcefully, "I do not believe that is the case. I have been trying to look into a few other agencies here, such as the Port Authority, but with no luck."
"Everyone there came back clean," Agent Mack stated.
Travis nodded. "Yes. I ran every name, and came back with nothing. After Elis…Er, Detective Maza's interception of the last shipment," he mentally gave himself a slap while begging his brain to get it together, "I believe that it may be coming in at a different port location, and being brought here via privately owned boats."
Silence descended. If it was, indeed, being brought over by private means of transportation, it was going to make their job harder.
Travis took a deep breath. "I have reached out and made contact with a member of Humans First," he admitted, avoiding the detective's eyes by looking at the others around the table. "I had a meeting tonight with a member, which is what made me late."
He risked a glance at Elisa and Matt. They were both frowning, seeming to be absorbing this new information.
"Excellent," Mack said. "What can you tell us?"
"Not a lot at the moment," He admitted. "Bunch of pseudo-military guys running around playing war games at a paintball place. They swarmed all over the fact that I came in these," He motioned to his clothing. "Wanted to know name, rank and fucking serial number." He flinched. "Pardon, ladies."
Christian rolled her eyes, and Elisa didn't react.
"At any rate," Travis continued, running a hand over the back of his neck. "I have a standing invite to join in their reindeer games. They meet every Tuesday, and I'm going to try to weasel myself into some of their bigger meetings. I can pass along information from there."
"Good," Mack said with a nod.
When no one else spoke, Mack decided to call it quits for the night. "We will meet again as soon as we have more information. If anyone here," he ran his gaze over all of the room's occupants, "gets a hold of any pertinent or time sensitive information, you have our contact information."
The room filled with the scraping sound of chairs being pushed back from the tables as people moved to stand at once.
All, that was, except three people.
Mack sighed, took a key off of his keyring and handed it to Travis.
"Lock up when the yelling is over," he said, turning to leave them alone.