Simon Turner was an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, the boss of Sophia Hapgood, and a extremist nationalist of the United States, involved in the 1947 excavation of the Infernal Machine.
Biography
Simon Turner worked for the CIA during the Cold War and notably despised the Communists, especially because he believed no one could get rich in their system.
In 1947, while investigating the Soviet dig site for the Infernal Machine in Babylon, archaeologist Indiana Jones was held at gunpoint by a Russian soldier when Turner appeared and shot the Soviet attacker, saving Jones' life. After additionally giving him the key to a nearby door and revealing his identity, Turner believed he had been able to quickly secure Jones' trust. However, he did coax Jones into finding a golden statuette of Marduk for him, that he claimed to want because he was a passionate art collector. Perhaps by instinct, Jones, however, never fully trusted Turner after their first encounter.
When Jones found out the first destination of his journey for the four missing pieces of the Infernal Machine, Turner tried to talk him out of it but, Jones went off on his adventure after giving Turner the golden idol of Marduk.
Turner and Jones crossed paths again with Sophia Hapgood (an ex-lover of Jones and Turner's current work partner and inferior) after Jones had aquired Nub's part of the Machine. Soviet Dr. Gennadi Volodnikov also appeared and demanded that Jones give him all the Machine parts. Forced to make a decision, Jones decided to trust his fellow Americans, relinquishing the pieces to Turner and Hapgood who immediately headed back to Babylon to assemble the four parts.
Because Hapgood was having second thoughts about this operation, Turner made up his mind and shoved Sophia into the cage that would act as the Machine's portal into an alter reality called the Aetherium. After this rash act, Turner then took Taklit's part of the Machine, which had the power to make its user invisible. Angry at this sudden betrayal of trust, Jones confronted Turner who seemed to think his actions were justified in that he could ultimately use the power of the Machine to secure a victory over the Soviets. Turner activated Taklit's part, becoming invisible after refusing Jones's demands to release Sophia. Unfortunately, Turner unknowingly installed the Machine parts in the wrong sockets, thus leaving Jones to reinstall them in the proper areas.
Turner was not about to be prevented from reaching his goal, however. Jones encountered Turner in another room of the Infernal Machine, where Turner, still proclaiming his fervent (and seemingly psychotic) patriotism, attempted to outmaneuver and incapacitate Jones using his newfound invisibility powers and a pistol. Jones drew his own revolver while Turner attempted to taunt and ambush him by going in and out of invisibility, yelling insults. The two opened fire on one another and after a brief firefight, Jones shot Turner in the heart who, dying instantly, dropped Taklit's part. Jones then picked up Taklit's part in order to complete the construction of the Infernal Machine. Turner's corpse disappeared when the Infernal Machine collapsed into rubble.