Rifle and artillery fire around noon (7)
I believe the answer is:
ransack
'rifle' is the definition.
(both can mean to search for and steal)
'artillery fire around noon' is the wordplay.
'artillery' becomes 'RA' (Royal Artillery).
'fire' becomes 'sack' (dismiss someone from their job).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'noon' becomes 'n' (abbreviation for noon).
'ra'+'sack'='rasack'
'rasack' placed around 'n' is 'RANSACK'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for ransack that I've seen before include "Search thoroughly and destructively" , "Rummage, rifle" , "Plunder - rummage" , "Rob and despoil" , "Turn upside down in searching" .)