Heartless spies surround her areas of influence (7)
I believe the answer is:
spheres
'areas of influence' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'heartless spies surround her' is the wordplay.
'heartless' suggests removing the centre.
'surround' indicates putting letters inside.
'spies' with its centre taken out is 'spes'.
'spes' enclosing 'her' is 'SPHERES'.
(Other definitions for spheres that I've seen before include "Globes" , "Areas" , "balls" .)