Leader of force went first - and ran away! (4)
I believe the answer is:
fled
'ran away' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'leader of force went first' is the wordplay.
'leader of' says to take the initial letters.
'went first' becomes 'led' (I've seen this in another clue).
The initial letter of 'force' is 'f'.
'f'+'led'='FLED'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for fled that I've seen before include "Ran or hurried away" , "Ran off in a hurry" , "Female showed the way and escaped" , "Having run or hurried away" , "dashed off elsewhere" .)