Deidre Jones

     Official records list Deidre Jones' date of birth as April 12, 1943.  Like all things in her life, however, she is certain this date is incorrect - even though she can't determine anything more accurate.
     Her memories of wandering the northern United States and southern Canada as a young adult begin clearly only a few short months after her "documented" birth - and her apparent lack of physical aging over the last sixty years makes her age that much more impossible to determine logically.  For thirty years, the woman wandered the border between the countries - engaging in all sorts of illicit activities in order to survive.
     Captured by the Canadian military in 1974, Jones spent the next several years in "compulsory service" - working for the Canadian military in various capacities, many of which drew on her extensive experience in the criminal world.
     In spite of her captive status, she was treated well by the Canadian military and was fully trained on a variety of weapons, several generations of vehicles, and assorted clandestine specialties.
     She fled Canada in 2002, seeking (and being granted) asylum in the United States in exchange for her nearly-thirty years experience with the Canadian military.  In addition to the military information she was willing to provide, US scientists took great interest in the genetic anomalies that created her unique appearance and retarded her aging.  When the River Epidemic swept across the Midwest, another aspect of her "unique DNA sequence" came into close examination.
     Jones had been in close contact with River Virus victims but showed no signs of the illness.  Close examination confirmed that she completely unaffected by the highly volatile plague that seemed to mutate at will and leave nothing but devastation in its wake.
     Overnight, her "unique DNA sequence" became an incredibly valuable commodity - and her government superiors reassigned her to high-level medical research teams working around-the-clock to find a cure for the disease.