Question

There was terror in his voice, the same fear she'd heard in the Dominican Republic before they left. They had been watched there; he was followed. They could not talk, of course, though they had whispered to each other in fear at night in the dark bed. . . . He went back to those awful days and long nights, and his wife's screams confirmed his secret fear: they had not gotten away after all; the SIM had come for them at last.

–“Daughter of Invention,”
Julia Alvarez

What type of conflict does this passage reveal?

Answer 1

The passage reveals a conflict between the characters and an external force, specifically the SIM (presumably the Secret Intelligence Service or a similar organization).