Rat Trap

"What?" Shade was baffled by what Stanley had just said.

"Are you deaf? I asked how much do you trust Nia?" Stanley did not move from his position in front of Shade.

Shade looked into his eyes and said, "A lot." And it's true; he trusted Nia because he had been with her for quite a while. They spent more time together than they should admit.

"What about Venn?"

Shade was becoming increasingly confused by Stanley with each passing moment. But he stayed calm and said, "Enough to have his back." After Vanita, he and Venn had formed some kind of bond, but neither of them wanted to label it.

"What about Aiden?"

"What's the purpose of this?" Shade stared at the magnified features of Stanley's face, who was now leaning almost over the table.

"Just answer the dang question, Shade."

Another round of tense staring later, Shade said, "I trust his judgment on people." To be honest, he had spent the least amount of time with Aiden. From what he knew, Aiden liked to be out of the headquarters most of the time.

Well, that's fair on his part because his job is to gather members, socialize, and get personal to make connections.

"So Aiden it is…" Stanley said after finally backing away from the desk.

"What? Is Aiden the rat?" Shade raised his brows, finding this somewhat sensible.

He thought about it. Aiden was rarely around. He had connections with different people. He was excellent at hiding things when he needed to, and he had a remarkable ability to cover his tracks. It's frightening how everything clicked together.

Shade's brows furrowed as he considered the possibility of losing another core member. But then Stanley said something that stopped Shade mid-thought. "No!"

"No?" Shade repeated.

He felt more confused than ever. No matter how experienced Stanley was or how important he might be, if he didn't get to the point, Shade wasn't sure how much longer he could endure it.

"Spit it out…" Shade said with a threatening undertone.

"Geez, kids these days have no patience." Stanley made an exaggerated motion with his arms.

"Stanley…"

"Okay," he said, standing straight with a serious tone. "It's not Aiden; it's more like his best friend, Matt."

"Matt?"

Shade recognized the name just on the surface; he knew that Aiden and Matt typically worked in pairs. They were each other's personal backups. They were kind of inseparable, except during team meetings or when Aiden was personally called in.

True blood brothers.

'That's not good…'

Shade knew that if this got out and Aiden found out, he would feel betrayed. And he would surely not take it as well as Venn. Aiden was good at socializing, but his one flaw was his temper, which occasionally flared up even during work.

He could control it, but sometimes it slipped. If anything, he would react badly to it, considering it would be a betrayal that he himself shunned. He felt it was the worst kind of crime, even more than murder.

This revelation certainly made things more complicated for Shade. With Matt as the rat and Aiden's best friend, Aiden would likely feel a profound sense of heartbreak.

Believing in someone who turns out to be the wrong person can have irreparable repercussions, affecting not just Aiden, but TEC as a whole and its efficiency and integrity.

With his thoughts spinning about what the best course of action would be, Shade understood that he couldn't just point fingers at Matt without solid evidence to back up his claims.

Aiden would demand evidence, and without it, they would end up splitting their group in two—something they desperately wanted to avoid.

"How sure are you?" he demanded.

Stanley let out a deep, tired breath and folded his arms across his chest, demonstrating the seriousness of the matter. "I don't make accusations without reason, kid. I've been observing things for a long time, and the patterns I've noticed just don't lie."

He then took a breath and continued. "The way Matt moves, how he interacts with others, and, most of all, how he conveniently vanishes right before information gets out—it all makes sense."

Shade leaned back in his chair as he absorbed this information. There were no mistakes to be made here if Stanley was so sure of things.

"If we approach him without tangible proof," Shade said, "Aiden won't listen, and that could cause even more problems. We need to find a way to catch him in the act, leaving no room for doubt."

Stanley smiled and said, "Now you're thinking like a leader. That's what we all need right now."

Shade began tapping his fingers while already crafting a plan of action. "I'll take the fall for this setup. However, if Aiden finds out the truth in a hurtful way, we risk losing him completely, which I won't let happen."

Stanley nodded in reassurance before saying, "Then I leave the rest to you, boss."

"Wait… We need to devise a setup—one that leaves absolutely no doubt as to where Matt's true allegiances lie. And that begs me to ask, was Matt ever loyal?"

"Shade, let me tell you something about Matt… He was always a rat." Stanley approached the door, holding the knob. He looked at Shade and said, "He was Kingston's pet before he became Aiden's best friend."

This revelation flipped everything on its head for Shade. If Matt was already on Kingston's payroll before he turned against Aiden, then his betrayal was never a possibility—it was a foregone conclusion. This meant that all the missions, all the interactions they had, and all the trust Aiden placed in him were based on a lie.

Shade's grip on the armrest turned white-knuckled as his mind raced with a thousand what-ifs. Aiden would never forgive himself for trusting Matt, and worse—he might not be able to forgive Shade for not sharing this information with him.

"We won't confront Aiden just yet," Shade said. "We'll set the trap and make Matt believe he's safe—until we have enough to take him down completely."

People can try all they want to cross him, but he will just get stronger each time they do.

"Also, find out who's feeding him any information to others, got it?"

"Got it, boss," Stanley said before finally leaving the room.

All Shade could do now was contemplate how much of a rat Matt was. And if Matt wanted to be a rat, Shade would gladly feed him. Poison, that is.