After everyone answered in unison, a voice warbled from the leader's walkie. "Chief, are we searching and purging the villas too?"

"Nope," the leader replied coolly. "We want the world to see what happened here—we're not cutting the grid or blocking communications, so that when we get in, the guests or staff will call for help. The Maldivian military base is around sixty miles from here, and that's a forty-minute journey even if they used their chopper.

"It's more than enough for us to comple