Rapid, heartless attack (4)
I believe the answer is:
raid
'attack' is the definition.
(I know that raid is a more specific form of the action attack)
'rapid heartless' is the wordplay.
'heartless' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'rapid' with its middle removed is 'RAID'.
(Other definitions for raid that I've seen before include "Smash-and-grab?" , "Sally" , "Inroad" , "Search by police without warning" , "Rifle" .)