General Hospital spoilers: John Cates loses his job with the FBI?

General Hospital ’s John Cates (Adam J. Harrington) seems as if his trajectory in Port Charles will soon pan out to be a doomed one.

For starters, in the episode airing on July 17, he took a call from his superior at the FBI, who was less than thrilled about the stalled progress of the Pikeman investigation. His superior’s tone riled John up so badly that he immediately went to Jason (Steve Burton) and demanded to know what he knew about Pikeman, again threatening to throw Carly (Laura Wright) in prison if Jason was uncooperative or not helpful. Additionally, unbeknownst to John, Anna (Finola Hughes) gave Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) a heads-up to leave town before he’s caught, so John may not have the opportunity to arrest the head of Pikeman.

John has also found himself in the crosshairs of Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Ava ’s (Maura West) custody war over their daughter, which is a dangerous place to be. John is slowly letting Ava manipulate him into aiding her cause.

She’s pretending to be this poor innocent woman who needs help fending off the big bad Sonny for the sake of her daughter. John took her bait, hook, line and sinker, and offered to protect her if she helped him put the kingpin behind bars. So far she’s pretending to be hesitant to aid John because of fear, but we know Ava will do anything to have custody of her daughter. Heck, she’s already ensured Sonny is taking placebos instead of his bipolar medication, hoping his behavior becomes very erratic and documented.

Now, of course, John isn’t just interested in arresting Sonny because runs the underworld of Port Charles. The two men have a long history, stemming back to Sonny employing John’s deceased wife as a stripper in his old club, which ultimately led to her and Sonny sleeping together. Sonny also took John’s brother Stone (Michael Sutton) under his wings, which John loathed. John’s personal vendetta against Sonny is his major motivation for wanting to see Sonny behind bars, which is not the best thing to have when trying to make a case hold up legally in court without exception.

Having said all of that, John has a few possible scenarios that could cost him his badge. With knowledge that the authorities are onto him, Valentin is gearing up to leave town before John can make an arrest. Considering Pikeman is his whole reason for being in Port Charles, John could lose his job if higher-ups find out Valentin got a warning to go into hiding.

Also, trusting Ava just sounds like a disaster as the woman is only concerned with getting her daughter and is willing to do or say anything to make that happen. She could stab John in the back if it meant getting her child.

Lastly, we’ve seen a few law enforcement agents become so obsessed with taking down Sonny in the past, that they let their above-board operation take dark and legally questionable turns. That usually hasn’t ended well in the past for agents and officers, and that’s a trend probable to continue. John may want to brush off his resume.

New episodes of General Hospital air on weekdays on ABC. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Hulu .