Hauck fixed on the name. Oilman. He knew without needing anything else that they had found him. Everything inside him told him this was Charles.

“Is this traceable, Joe?”

“Yes…and no. As you know, Hotmail is a free Internet site. Therefore you don’t need anything but a given name to register, and it doesn’t even have to be a real one to get that done. Or even a real address. But we can go back to them and trace what was on the application. And there’s a communication history we can go back on. What I can’t do, however, is narrow that down to a specific place.”

Hauck’s blood surged with optimism. “Okay…”

“The activity seems to be coming from the Caribbean region. Not to a specific location though, but on a wireless LAN. There’s been activity picked up around St. Maarten, the BVIs. Even as far away as Panama.”

“The guy’s been traveling?”

“Maybe, or on a boat.”

A boat. That made sense to Hauck. “Can we narrow that down?”

“With time,” the JIATF man explained. “We can set up a surveillance and monitor future activity and triangulate a point of origin. But that takes manpower. And paperwork. And other countries involved. You understand what I mean. And I gather that’s something you’re not eager to deal with, are you, Ty?”

“No,” he admitted. “Not if I can help it, Joe.”

“That’s what I thought. So this is the next-best step. We traced the application information through the Hotmail people. That much I can do, but after that you’re on your own.”

“That’s great!”

“The address on the account is to a post-office box at the central post office on the island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean. I went as far as I could without getting anyone else involved and checked down there. It’s registered to a Steven Hanson, Ty. That ring a bell?”

“Hanson?” At first it was a blank, but then something went off inside him. “Hold on a second, Joe….”

He swiveled around the desk, rifling through a stack of papers. Until he found it.

The list of new subscribers from Mustang World.

He had narrowed it down to just a handful of names. From all over the region: Panama. Honduras. The Bahamas. The BVIs…. It took a few seconds, scanning the list. Hopewell, March, Camp, O’Shea.

But there it was! S. Hanson. Date of subscription: 1/17. This year! The only address given was a post-office box on St. Kitts.

Steven Hanson.

A surge of validation ran through Hauck’s veins.

Steven Hanson was Oilman0716. And Oilman0716 had to be Charles. Too much fit.

The car. The Concours. The little phrases. Karen had been right. This was the part of him that could not change. His baby.

They had found him!