"I’m sorry, officer," Rafael said as he killed the ignition and slowly climbed from the bike. He started to remove his breather, but the two soldiers shifted suddenly, tensing and raising their rifles. Rafael left his hands where they were, up near his face. "I was trying to pass the truck, and couldn’t see because of the dust," he explained, waving it away from his face. "We weren’t trying to run the checkpoint—we just didn’t see it until it was too late. My wife and I rode down from Nuevo Laredo to visit with friends in—"