Telepathy

<snip>
"Okay, fine. Now, let's start planning this heist..." said Jay, motioning the Dwarfers to follow him.
</snip>
He walked across the room towards the large, flat panel television, mounted on the wall, and flopped down on one of the two sofas arrayed out in front of it
"Take a seat" he gestured expansively
The others filed in behind him, some following suit and sitting on the sofas, while others, like Artemis with his watchful and suspicious eyes, preferred to remain standing. Boyd sank down slowly next to Jay, to fidget listlessly, his eyes wide as they darted nervously around the people sat nearest him
"Cass?" Jay gestured vaguely towards the television "Would you mind?"
With the corners of her mouth twitching briefly into a faint smile of acknowledgement, Cassandra fumbled in her bag and dragged her terminal out from within.
Silent for a moment, she tapped away at the screen of the device, calling up a bunch of schematics, including the casino floor plans, security overlays, and current personnel depositions, which she broadcast onto the television
"'Scuse the crappy resolution" she murmured, frowning as she ran a few configuration filters over the data
"Right" Cass said after a moment "Since there probably isn’t the appetite to kidnap people’s families and threaten to start carving chunks out of them, we’re going to have to do this the hard way.
"The way I see it: We either hit them hard and really fast, or we perform a stealth operation. Either way there are no guarantees."
She paused to bring the view of the floor plan up into focus, and tapped at her terminal to highlight a couple of points on the map
"Now, in common with many casinos," she continued "the vaults here are situated below ground in a high security area. This is only accessible via a number of security gates; each of which is manned by armed guards at all times.
"The vault where the rifle and an absolute ton of cash is being held is, as far as I can tell, pretty sophisticated for this era; and for the most part the door lock seems to be an analogue device, but there are a bunch of electronic auto-lock sensors and mechanisms which will make it tough to crack"
"Are there any security weaknesses?" Jay asked as Boyd swung his wide eyed stare onto him
"There are a few," Cass replied "The main one is that security is controlled centrally, and I've already compromised that; so key cards, iris recognition, everything apart from the vault is under control
"Another point of weakness is the need to move physical cash in and out of the building by armoured van - It's secure enough, but as with any routine process, it's subject a certain laxness. The van does a pickup at 4pm every day; so we might be able to exploit that if we somehow acquired a Group Four van and posed as guards"
"Yeah, but as guards we still won't have access to the safe, will we?" Jamie asked, as a wincing Boyd swung his gaze over to him to stare intently at him
"Exactly," Cass nodded "So if we simultaneously go in posing as guards and do a stealth operation to retrieve the rifle, we can make our getaway in the security van – and there's even the outside chance we can do this without too much bloodshed"
Boyd squinted at Cass and screwed his eyes closed at this and let out a low moan
"So what about the safe?" Katrina asked, frowning at Boyd, and wondering what the noise had been about
"Well, I speak fluent Japanese, so I was just going to get persuasive with someone" Cass shrugged "But since Boyd here's telepathic at the moment, maybe he can extract the safe combination without anyone getting hurt?"
Jay nodded in agreement at this and turned to Boyd "Think you can manage that?" he asked
Boyd’s fevered eyes flicked open
"Stop thinking!" he shrieked at Cass "Stop thinking! It's too much! I can't keep up with you! You..."
Cassandra blanched, her eyes widening in horror
"Get out of my head!" she snapped
"I... Oh, my God, your father!" Boyd cried curling into a ball and trying to wrap his arms around his head
"Not another fucking word!" Cass yelled angrily, her hands balling into fists "Not one! You say anything else, and you're dead! Do you understand!?"
"Cass..." Jay was up on his feet in an instant as Boyd made indistinct, muffled noises and frantically nodded his head
"That wasn't me!" Cass snarled at Boyd, ignoring Jay "They're the only memories I have, but that wasn't me! Okay!?"
"C'mon," Jay said in a tone which he hoped brooked no argument, and clamped an arm around her shoulders to pull her away "Let's get you out of here"
In spite of her immediate instinct to throw his arm off and push him away, Cass could see the wisdom in removing herself from the situation, and allowed Jay to guide her across the room towards the door; but before they could exit, Boyd, in his fevered confusion, tried to make amends and failed in the worst possible way
"He really cares about you!" he shouted after her "He really, really does!"
Cass stiffened as, aghast, Jay turned to flash Boyd a venomous glare, its ferocity matched only by the one Katrina was in turn giving him
Boyd’s mouth dropped open when the psychic feedback hit him and he realised what he had just done
"Oh... Oh God I'm sorry" he gibbered, trying in vain to stuff both his hands into his mouth
"Let's go" Jay managed, feeling the world spiral dizzily around him as he somehow pulled the door open and led Cass outside
Everyone watched as the door swung closed behind him with a breathless click
"So sorry, so sorry..." Boyd whispered over and over again
"Judges are not permitted emotional liaisons," Artemis growled "and above all, SJS Judges must be irreproachable. Judge Jones' commanding officers will hear of this"
Jade shook her head and sighed
"Oh, shut up Artemis" she grumbled as Katrina suddenly stood, making her glance up in surprise
"I think I'll just..." Katrina began, but that's as far as she got before Jay re-entered the room and closed the door firmly behind him
"Unless anyone has a better suggestion, we'll go with Cassandra's plan" he said, trying to muster as much authority as he could beneath Katrina's withering stare
"We'll need a couple of squads" he continued "One to go hijack a Group Four van and pose as guards, and another to do the infiltration – Boyd you’re on that team
"If we’re able to get the combination for the safe beforehand, that would be great, but if not, we’ll just make it up as we go along”
He paused to look between his companions. Katrina looked angry, he noted
“Oh, just sort yourselves out” he sighed “We need a Group Four armoured van here at four this afternoon...”

<tag>
Take your pick: infiltration or a hijack
</tag>