General Hospital spoilers: why is John Cates afraid to see Brennan?

When General Hospital’ s John Cates (Adam J. Harrington) returned to Port Charles, he did so as the crusader of justice ready to put a stop to Pikeman. However, as time went by and his investigation into Pikeman started to fall apart, the FBI agent began revealing more of who he is. He was relentless in blackmailing Jason (Steve Burton) to do his bidding, knowing Jason would abide by his wishes because he didn’t want to see Carly (Laura  Wright) end up in prison.

Unfortunately for John, Carly grew tired of him hanging the infamous FBI audio tape over Jason’s head and she turned herself in, hoping to prove her innocence in court. Things wouldn’t come to a long trial as the audio recording disappeared from the FBI database. With the audio file gone and the case against Carly gone with it, many show fans were left thinking that Carly’s hero in this matter was none other than Brennan (Charles Mesure).

The WSB agent had taken quite the interest in Carly when he got to town, and the two have shared a few one-on-one moments together. Besides Jason, Brennan was Carly’s confidant throughout the whole ordeal with the audio recording and he even offered his advice while locked away in Pentonville. Plus, he was released from lockup conveniently before Carly was due in court to enter her plea, and when Anna (Finola Hughes) tracked him down, he was clearly back in good standing with international law enforcement.

Fast forward to the General Hospital episode that aired on August 13, and Brennan wrapped a meeting with Anna and went to the Metro Court bar looking for Carly. Not knowing Brennan was no longer behind bars, John seemed alarmed to see him from tables away. When John’s dinner guest Ava (Maura West) tried to get to the bottom of his shift in demeanor, John simply noted that Brennan was a man he thought was still in prison. Ava attempted to get more out of the FBI agent, but he played coy like Brennan doesn’t matter.

Having said that, we have to wonder if John is spooked by Brennan for a good reason.  John knows Brennan’s background as a WSB agent, and he’s fully aware that Brennan was locked up for his suspected involvement in Pikeman. Brennan being free and John not knowing about it is bad news for John as he was considered to be the lead investigator into Pikeman. John's lack of knowledge concerning Pikeman updates could spell he really is about to be fired by the FBI.

He’s already been on thin ice with his higher-ups, and trying to get in their good graces is why his obsession with Sonny has flared back up. John desperately wants to take down a "big fish" to prove his worth to the bureau. But Brennan’s reappearance may mean he’s out of time.

If this proves to be the case, we wouldn’t be surprised if Brennan already knows John is in deep trouble. Is it possible Brennan is back in Port Charles as a representative with the WSB to take care of the FBI’s John problem? To either kill John or to frame him for a crime and have him locked away for good, thereby preventing John from going rogue any further or spilling Pikeman secrets?

Sure this is all possible. However, we won’t know for sure what’s going on until everything unfolds.

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