- "All systems tapped, Colonel."
- ―Burke to Stuart
Burke's death.
Burke was a mercenary who assisted Colonel Stuart in seizing control of Dulles International Airport control tower's systems to free General Ramon Esperanza from custody.
Die Hard 2[]
Burke helped weld the generator that powers their makeshift airport equipment at detached garage out by Highland Lake Community Church, which was located at the west side of Dulles Airport. After he gets the generator operational, Burke notifies Stuart on the encoded radio that the generator is ready to go. Afterwards, he cut the airport's conduit line near the church, shutting down the control tower's ILS systems.
Later, he was patching up General Esperanza's grazed wound on his shoulder caused by John McClane. Then, when Major Grant and his unit arrived, under the guise of them trying to stop Stuart and his men, Burke and the others switched their magazines to blanks and pretends to have a firefight with them. He also help planted C4 in the airport equipment to prevent others from using them. He joins Stuart, Esperanza, Garber, Miller and Kahn at the back of the church to ride their snowmobiles.
Burke loading his MP5K.
As he was taking lead in the snowmobile, McClane follows and fires repeatedly at Burke, which he got shot. Burke then lost control of the snowmobile and crashed through the ice of a frozen lake, which drowned him and the snowmobile below the frigid water. He was the seventh man in Stuart's group that McClane killed, and the eighth mercenary killed in action.
Trivia[]
- According to John Leguizamo in his autobiography, his role was intended to be much larger until the filmmakers realized how short he was. His part was cut down to one line, which was dubbed by someone else. However, he got his way years later in Executive Decision (1996), another picture produced by Joel Silver and often described as 'Die Hard on a Plane'.
- For the character's death sequence where Burke is shot off his snowmobile by John McClane, actor Leguizamo was doubled by stuntman Steve Picerni, whose work for that stunt can be seen here in this 2010 YouTube Stunt Demo Reel. Picerni previously doubled for Franco in the first film.