Chapter 2: La Frontera
The arid Mexican heat pressed down on the border checkpoint between Nogales, Mexico and Tucson, Arizona like a thick blanket. Tourists and immigrants alike sat in their cars, some honking their horns and adding to the cacophony of shouts, loud exhausts, and barking dogs. Traffic was at a slow crawl, a miracle considering that it was 3 in the afternoon. If traffic had been going any faster, border officials would have wondered if something was wrong. Even now, some border guards sat in their booths wondering why the traffic wasn't at a complete standstill.
Benicio sat in his white Ford F150, specifically chosen because there were a dozen others just like it in the traffic. Inconspicuous, heavy, and all-terrain, it was perfect for this job. It also had air-conditioning, something that Benicio was thankful for considering he was wearing a plate-carrier, thigh holster, and kneepads over his jeans. Had it not been for the air conditioning, he would have been suffering from heatstroke long before he could rescue Sirius Black.
Traffic continued to crawl forward at a snail's pace. Tension filled the air as Benicio nervously tapped the steering wheel. Normally, he was fine going up against members of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel. He had done so dozens of times before, but this time was different. If the cartel members chose to open fire in the middle of traffic, civilians would scatter from their cars to get away from the firefight and end up putting themselves in the crossfire. Benicio knew that if push came to shove, he would have to pick and choose his targets carefully. He wasn't in the jungles or the cartel compounds anymore. Out here, cartel members looked like any other person, and any other person could pull a gun on him at any moment.
Up ahead, a large black dog weaved through the cars and received angry honks. Benicio leaned back in his seat, thinking nothing of it. Dogs made their way through traffic at the border all the time. He looked down, inspecting his father's SIG P220 and sliding the slide back to ensure he had a round chambered, letting it slide back into place with a quiet clack. He looked back up, letting out a deep exhale as traffic continued to ooze forward. The dog, oddly enough, looked both ways before crossing over the median and into the next lane. Weird. Benicio leaned forward and watched the dog closely, knowing that many extraordinary things were possible in the world of magic he now found himself in.
The dog walked across the next couple lanes of traffic, receiving several angry honks from the cars behind him. At one point, the dog even looked back at a car and barked before continuing its walk. All of Benicio's attention was on the dog now. It walked behind a nearby port-a-potty, and he waited for the dog to walk out from the other side. Instead, out walked… a man? Benicio shot upright, inspecting the man closely. He had shaggy black hair, a haggard face, and odd clothes for a regular man.
Sirius Black, in the flesh.
Three men got out of a sedan three cars ahead of Benicio's F150 the moment Black appeared. No weapons were visible, but he was able to guess from the bulges underneath their shirts that they were carrying. The men crept forward, their body language tense as they made their way towards Sirius. Behind Benicio, nine men poured out of old-fashioned cars stuck in traffic. Dressed in robes, the men crept forward and made their way through the now stalled traffic. Benicio's heart was thumping wildly in his chest. He had expected a few cartel members to try and intercept Black, not a whole crowd of people toting modern and magical weapons alike. To make matters worse, seven men in dark robes appeared on the crest of a nearby hill. Dressed in masks like Benicio's own, it wasn't hard for him to tell that they were Death Eaters like the man he had killed in the alleyway 13 years ago.
The three cartel members were the first to reach Sirius, who was about seven cars ahead of Benicio. They surrounded him and started shouting. Black put his hands up in a gesture of surrender and stayed where he was, saying things to the cartel members. Meanwhile, Ministry officials approached the group from the south and Death Eaters approached from the east. The Death Eaters and Ministry Officials spotted each other at the same time. The two groups stood still; hands thrust into their robes as they waited for one another to make a move. One of the cartel members noticed, pointed, and said something to his two friends as they turned to look.
Tensions were high between the three groups as border traffic continued to stay at a standstill. Black glanced between the three groups, frozen in place as they all waited for each other to make a move. The Mexican heat felt hotter than ever as Sirius finally made the decision to slowly take steps back away from the three cartel members. The whole scene was like an incredibly bizarre art exhibit: all three groups were frozen like statues, waiting for one another to make a move. People slowly got out of their cars one by one, waiting to see what was going on as the standoff continued.
It was Sirius Black who made the first move.
Pulling his wand from a pocket, Sirius shouted something, and a flash of light shot from his wand, causing one of the cartel members to hit the ground hard. The two others drew their guns as Sirius dove behind a car, loud cracks sounding as their Uzis peppered the car he was taking cover behind. Hearing the gunshots, the Death Eaters opened fire on the Ministry officials, who sent red and green jets of fire shooting back and forth.
"MIERDA!"
El Cuco swore loudly as he pulled his MP5 from the seat beside him, extending the stock and slapping a magazine into place. He slid his father's P220 into a holster on his thigh and pulled the modified Death Eater mask over his head. He pushed the F150's door open, not caring as he dented the car behind him. The man whose car he dented got out and started shouting at him. El Cuco raised his gun and shouted over the chorus of gunfire and magic.
"Mexican Special Forces! Get back in your vehicle!"
Bewildered, the man returned to his vehicle as El Cuco pushed forward, keeping low and using cars as cover to avoid attracting the attention of the Ministry officials occupied with keeping the Death Eaters at bay. Civilians flooded the checkpoint, causing momentary pauses in gunfire and spell work from the Ministry as civilians panicked and ran between them. The Death Eaters, however, fired away with gusto and killed as many civilians as they could. Horrified, El Cuco pushed forward through the flood of fleeing civilians and raised his gun, carefully firing four shots.
All four of El Cuco's shots hit their targets. Three bullets killed the three cartel members instantly, and one more killed a Death Eater that got a little too close to Sirius for El Cuco's liking. The group of Death Eaters engaging the Ministry split into two, with one group staying to hold off the Ministry as the other weaved between the cars to take Sirius. The second group worked their way forward at a faster pace, as most of the civilians had either been killed or fled the battle. El Cuco raised his MP5, opening fire as he made his way towards Sirius.
A jet of green light zipped past his head, forcing him to duck behind a nearby minivan. Slowly, El Cuco peeked his head under the gap between the bottom of the minivan and the road. A group of five Death Eaters had gathered around Sirius, one pointing his wand at him and causing him to stiffen up, falling to the ground like a wood plank. One of the five split off, making his way towards the minivan El Cuco was taking cover behind.
"HOMENUM REVELIO!" A voice called out.
El Cuco felt an unpleasant sensation, as if something had swept low over him. Thinking quickly as he heard the Death Eater's footsteps, El Cuco threw himself to the ground and landed on his back, raising his MP5 as the Death Eater peeked around the corner of the van. Expecting him to be standing, the Death Eater's spell passed harmlessly above him as El Cuco let out a burst from his MP5, a plethora of rounds entering the Death Eater's neck and spraying blood against the car behind him.
While he was still on the ground, El Cuco pulled one of his two flashbangs from a pouch on his belt, yanked the pin and waited for a moment, and then rolled it under the minivan and towards the group that began running towards it. One of the members spotted the cylinder rolling towards the group and tried casting a spell but had no chance to complete it. A bright flash briefly filled the area, simultaneously accompanied by an impossibly loud bang that, despite being behind the minivan, caused El Cuco's ears to ring.
El Cuco worked quickly, raising his gun and rounding the corner of the minivan. He fired off six more shots. One missed and went wild, hitting the tire of a nearby car and causing it to deflate with a hiss. The other five hit their targets. Two entered one Death Eater, sending him sprawling and killing him instantly. The other three hit their targets, two dying instantly and the third hitting the ground with a thud.
Looking up with wide eyes underneath his mask, the Death Eater stared up at El Cuco.
"Do it." He rasped. "Death is a preferable alternative to my Lord's wrath."
El Cuco looked down at the dying man, letting his MP5 hang on a sling across his chest as he pulled his father's P220 from the holster on his thigh.
"Como quieras."
A single shot rang out, and the Death Eater's body jerked once. El Cuco holstered the handgun and turned to Sirius Black, who had been freed from the curse he had been a victim off following the caster's death. He held out his hand, looking down at Sirius Black.
"Señor Black?" El Cuco said as he studied Black carefully. "You need to come with me."
Black contemplated for a moment before speaking. "And if I don't?"
Shouting echoed from across the checkpoint as a jet of red light hit a sedan beside the two, causing a car alarm to ring out.
El Cuco shrugged. "Then I leave you to los lobos."
After what felt like five hours but was only really three seconds, Sirius accepted El Cuco's hand as he hauled him to his feet. The two ran, Sirius transforming himself into a dog in order to go faster. El Cuco ejected the magazine from his MP5 and slapped a new one into place. He whirled around and squeezed off a few random shots, turning back around to run before he could determine whether any had landed. As spells, curses, and hexes whizzed over their heads, the two finally reached the white F150. Sirius dove into the back seat as El Cuco yanked the door open, sliding into the driver's seat and shifting the truck into reverse.
"Hold on!" He shouted.
The F150's engine roared as the truck pushed back and slammed into one of the Ministry's old-fashioned cars, creating a loud 'crunch' and sending up a puff of smoke. Spells bounced off the truck's metal with loud dings. As the Death Eater's drew closer, El Cuco heard shouting as Sirius rolled down the window and fired off several spells before ducking back down.
The sound of metal grinding against metal could be heard as the truck pushed the Ministry car back, eventually backing out of the traffic and swerving around, flying over the road as more spells thudded against the truck's bed. A Death Eater teleported onto the road in front of the F150, raising his wand and firing a spell at the windshield, shattering the glass and sending shards cascading over El Cuco. Ducking down, he placed a hand on his handgun as he prepared for the worst.
THUMP.
A loud scream rang out as El Cuco felt an impact against the front of the truck and a crunch underneath the truck's wheels moments later. Sitting up, he took his hand off his handgun and brushed broken glass off his shoulders. He wouldn't need the weapon after all. El Cuco looked back in his rearview mirror, watching a Death Eater pursue on his broomstick for a moment before peeling off and returning to the border. Leaning back in his seat, he peeled off his mask and let out a deep breath.
The F150 rumbled on for several hours, passing towns, markets, and villages as the two rode into the Mexican countryside. Between the occasional burst of static, the radio picked up chatter of a massive firefight at the border between Tucson and Nogales. Eventually, the chatter stopped, and the shootout was attributed to a shootout between the Sinaloa and Golfos cartels. As the sun finally set and the moon faintly illuminated the desert, the F150 pulled over and rumbled to a stop somewhere in the countryside. Then, and only then, El Cuco leaned back in his seat as his hands flopped to his sides. He let out a deep breath but stiffened up as he felt the tip of a wand press itself against the back of his neck.
It seemed that Sirius Black wanted answers.