Secret Service operative Emlyn Strickland may be new to field work, but his talent for identifying counterfeit bank notes, honed over ten years at the Treasury, has given Sing Sing’s population a respectable boost. When counterfeiter August McKee takes illegal advantage of a sinking silver market, his former confederate Darrow Gardiner shares that information with Agent Strickland so they can track down the once-friend who left Darrow to rot in prison. Promised his freedom in return, Darrow’s after something more. He wants possession of his best work, the flawless fifty dollar plates still in McKee’s hands. And with a little maneuvering, he’ll have the one thing a vengeful McKee may consider fair barter: the Secret Service operative whose testimony sent them both up the river. It seems an objective within Darrow’s reach after he rescues Emlyn from an assassin, earning a measure of his trust in the process. But on the cross-country journey in search of McKee, another attempt on their lives leaves operative and outlaw stranded miles from Denver, with no one to rely upon but each other. Beset by turncoat agents, angry miners, and the burgeoning threat of a wealthy and powerful McKee, Darrow and Emlyn discover that standing on opposite sides of the law doesn’t safeguard them from the dangers of friendship—or a deeper attraction that may force Darrow to choose between the real and the counterfeit as he’s never done before.

Thanks to influential friends, Hugh Pritchard may escape a jail sentence for the part he played in Gust McKee's scheme to flood the country with counterfeit silver. Emlyn Strickland intends to keep an eye on both Pritchard and the jailed McKee, but it's no easy task when his attention is taken up by the new case Bishop assigns him—and the new partner, an overbearing senior agent by the name of Philip Mowbray. Darrow, enlisted as part-time informant by a pragmatic Bishop, loathes Mowbray at first sight, convinced the agent doesn't have the ability to keep Emlyn out of trouble… Not as well as he does, anyway. Mowbray's dislike of him, as swift and commensurate, is a sentiment echoed by other agents at the Treasury, where Darrow finds himself an unwelcome presence. Determined to salvage a new life out of the broken remains of his old one, Darrow sets up an easel in his Bowery attic to supplement his Service pay and tries to make the most of infrequent evenings with the busy Emlyn. But those stolen moments aren't enough and when Emlyn lands in the hospital after his assignment goes awry, Darrow tentatively offers to move in with him until he's recovered. The decision brings Darrow into Emlyn's investigation and soon they're working together to track down the man threatening senators who've vowed to repeal the Silver Act. When their assassin sets his sights on the Act's most vocal opponent, the hunt turns into a desperate race to Washington, where the saving of a president may come at a heartbreaking price. Words: 68,090