Busting God

By Danielle de Valera

Short story, 15 pages. Aging undercover narcotics agent Michael O'Neill is fighting back the years. Pumping iron, practising karate with the best, running miles every day so that he can stay in the field. He is sent to the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, along with his Vietnam buddy Baby Johnson to bust a heroin dealer so big that everyone up there calls him 'God'. Against orders from his wily female CEO, aptly nicknamed The Eagle, O'Neill takes his longtime girlfriend Azure with him. She is a part-time model. God proves difficult to find, but with the help of a local freak named David, O'Neill and Baby eventually meet God. What happens then is not what O'Neill was expecting. 5,500 words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Danielle de Valera
• Release date: Mar 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9780992331122

Danielle de Valera

Until now, Danielle de Valera's been best known for her short stories, which have appeared in such diverse magazines as Penthouse, Aurealis and the Australian Women’s Weekly.All in all, she's had a chequered career. She’s worked as a botanist, an editor, a cataloguer for the Queensland Department of Primary Industries Library and the John Oxley Library, and on the main floor of Arnott’s biscuit factory.The manuscript of her 1st ever novel (then titled Love the People!) was placed 2nd to published author Hugh Atkinson's in the Australia-wide Xavier Society Literary Award for an unpublished novel - in those days, there was no Vogel Award for Unpublished Writers under 35. After that, she abandoned writing for 25 years to raise her children, whom she raised alone.She resumed writing in 1990, somewhat behind the eight-ball. With Louise Forster she won the Australia-New Zealand-wide Emma Darcy Award for Romance Manuscript of the Year 2000 with Found: One Lover.That first novel, Love the People! was shortlisted for the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2011, and for the UK’s Impress Prize in 2012, under the title A Few Brief Seasons. It's due out here in October 2021 under its final title Those Brisbane Romantics.A freelance manuscript assessor and fiction editor since 1992, she has won numerous awards for her gritty, streetwise short stories. MagnifiCat, a departure from this style, is her first published novel. It was followed in 2017 by Dropping Out: a tree-change novel in stories - to put it another way, a collection of linked short stories.For more information on this author, see Smashwords iInterview. There's lots there.About that NameDanielle de Valera’s father claimed he was related to the controversial Irish politician Eamon de Valera on his mother’s side. But he told some tall tales in his time, and this is sure to be one of them. Born Danielle Ellis, she found that this name was replicated many times on the web. In searching for another under which to write, she first tried her mother's maiden name, Doyle, but there were a number of those, too. What to do? Then she remembered her father’s story and chose it as her writing name. But she feels any real connection is unlikely.

Book preview

Busting God

I loved the work too well. That was the problem. Even sitting in my kitchen nursing two cracked ribs, the contents of the house trashed around me, I still loved it.

But I was growing older.

I watched what I ate. I sweated at karate and ran miles every day so I could stay in the field.

Still, I grew older.

Reg Mulcahey was leaning against my kitchen sink looking worried. He pulled a packet of Camels from his pocket, lit two and passed one to me.

Why didn’t you tell those cops you were a narc? Christ, Michael!

I wrenched a packet of frozen peas from the freezer and sat down holding the packet against my rapidly closing eyelid.

What’d you expect me to do, Reg—blow a cover I’ve been working on for months?

Well, y’ cover’s blown now, Reg drawled. I had to show them my ID to get them off you. By the way, The Eagle wants to see you. That’s why I came.

The CEO had eyes that seemed to see right through you, that’s why we called her The Eagle. That afternoon she was in a hurry, she was due at a high-powered press conference at two. She could barely make the time to tell me I was taking a paid trip to the Northern Rivers to bust a heroin dealer so big everyone up there called him God. She threw my new ID papers at me and told me to take the next train out of Sydney.

Where would you like me to go, Ma’am?

If you’re meaning a town, O’Neill—try Murwillumbah.

My clothes were torn and bloodied. I was still holding the packet of frozen peas to my eye. She didn’t seem