A missing woman. A desert retreat built on surrender. And an enemy Zeke Carter thought he understood.
When Daniel Rios asks Zeke to find his sister Naomi, the trail leads to Ascension Path, a remote spiritual retreat run by charismatic leader Elias Thorn. On the surface, it promises peace, renewal, and freedom from the noise of ordinary life. Behind the carefully staged serenity, Zeke finds something far darker: restricted water, controlled communication, psychological pressure, and detailed files cataloging each guest's fears, loyalties, weaknesses, and breaking points.
Going undercover as maintenance man Luke Mercer gives Zeke access no seeker would ever have. It also puts him under the watchful eye of Reef, Ascension Path's dangerous head of security. As Zeke quietly reaches Naomi and discovers that she is being prepared for a deeper transfer, the retreat's connection to the shadowy organization known as the Forum becomes impossible to ignore.
With Maya Alvarez working from the outside, Pastor Henry following the electronic trail, and Seraphine Dax using her own painful knowledge of the Forum, Zeke begins planning an escape. A deliberate blackout, a maintenance van, and one narrow desert road may be the only chance to get Naomi and the others out before Thorn moves them beyond reach.
But escape is only the beginning.
The evidence Zeke brings home exposes a system far larger than one retreat. The Forum has learned how to turn fear into obedience, isolation into dependence, and even relief into a weapon. Worse, someone inside Zeke's growing circle may still be caught in its grip.
As trust fractures and the investigation closes in on the Forum's hidden network, Zeke and Maya find themselves facing a danger more personal than anything that came before. The enemy no longer needs to hide in the desert. It knows where they live, how they work, and whom they love.
The Empty Retreat, Book Four of the Salvager series, is a fast-moving Christian suspense thriller about rescue, manipulation, faith, loyalty, and the terrible cost of discovering that getting someone out is not always the same as setting them free.
Jack Baptiste is the pen name used by Robert Suter, a lifelong storyteller with a sharp eye for human nature, hidden motives, and the quiet forces that shape lives from the shadows. Drawing inspiration from real-world events, news headlines, and decades of observing people at their best and worst, Souter crafts suspense-driven stories grounded in realism rather than spectacle.
The Salvager series reflects his belief that the most dangerous threats are not always obvious - and that truth, once uncovered, often comes at a cost. Writing under the Jack Baptiste name allows him to explore darker themes of power, secrecy, and moral consequence while keeping the focus squarely on story and character.
When not writing, Suter continues to observe, question, and imagine the unseen connections that link one life to another - because every story, like every secret, leaves a trace.
