“Why me?” Jason asked. “Friends help friends,” Joel Lovin replied. “You’re smart. I gotta hunch you’d be an asset to us.” “But—counterfeit?” A small windowless supply room served as their meeting place. In it stood a card table, set with a half-eaten platter of sandwiches and a bottle of whiskey, partially drunk. Jason sat with three men: Adam Cable, a wealthy, gruff-looking rancher; Jacob Rose, a red-faced farmer and grain mill owner; and Joel Lovin, a balding, middle-aged bookkeeper. Feeling apprehensive and a little frightened, he asked questions, of them and of himself: What would happen if I said no to this venture? Would they trust me not to betray them? What if I said yes? What then?