The Frequency, by Randall D. St. Claire

Bronx Rousselle let no one get close enough to matter. A few familiar faces. Nothing owed, and no ties he couldn’t leave behind. Until something old, hidden, finds its way into his hands. Not valuable in any ordinary sense, yet impossible to ignore. It draws attention quickly—the kind that does not ask and does not wait. What begins as annoyance becomes deadly pursuit, forcing Bronx out of the life he’s crafted on purpose.

His path leads north, where the world strips a man down to what remains when comfort is gone. Ice, wind, silence—unrelenting silence—and the growing sense that danger does not always come from what’s chasing him, but from the price the journey demands. Bronx begins choosing allies—people he never meant to need and cannot leave behind once he does. The shift is gradual, almost unnoticeable—then it breaks. And when the moment comes to choose what can be carried forward—and what must be left behind—he understands that some risks are not measured in survival, but in who you are willing to stand with when the cost is no longer yours alone.