The A.F.R. snatches the WYYY engineer (p. 624)
Besides the HANDICAPPED license plate, the only exceptional things about the van now idling at the curb far below are the tinted windows and the fact that the van is spotless and twinkly with wax to about halfway up its panelled side, but above that line dirty and rust-saucered and shamefully neglected-looking.
Context
The snatch team's van: the HANDICAPPED plate is the A.F.R.'s standing trick — disability accommodation as operational cover (cf. Pat's Aventura, 095; the "totally legless" surveyor at Orin's door, 119): the U.S. courtesy toward the wheelchaired is a security hole, and they drive through it. The wax line stopping halfway up the panels is the tell the narration plants without glossing — the van is maintained exactly as high as arms in a chair can reach.